
mi 



111111 



filniiir 



Mam 






« 



Hffiflti 



li mm fflmmm 




SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM SCIENCE HANDBOOKS. 

[Branch Museum, Bethnal Green.] 

ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 



This work, prepared by order of the Lords of the Committee 
of Council on Education, is i/itended to serve, i?i the first insta?icc, 
as a descriptive guide to the Collection of Animal Products at the 
Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum ; and, 
secondly, as a practical treatise on Econoniic Zoology for the use of 
the Public generally. 

While there are very ma?iy treatises on Natural History, 
scientifically arranged, there are few works in which the uses of 
Animals to Man, and the importa?it Commercial Products they 
furnish, have received pro minent attention. The author has long 
had this extensive subject before him in cataloguing, labelling, and 
describing the large and increasing Collection of Afiimal Products in 
the Bethnal Green Museum, and believes that a detailed description 
of the various useful substances furnished by the Animal Kingdom 
may be rendered both instructive and interesting. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTS 

THEIR PREPARATION, COMMERCIAL USES, 
AND VALUE. 



BY 

P? U SIMMONDS, 

EDITOR OF THE "JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE. 




Published for the Committee of Council on Education 

BY 

SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG, 
NEW YORK. 






26 0*00 



rf> 




CONTENTS. 



List of Illustrations 



Origin of the Animal Products Collection, and Statistics 
of the Production and Trade in Animal Products . . xiii 



INTRODUCTION. 

Classification of Mammals . . 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WOOL-PRODUCING ANIMALS AND THEIR USES 
TO MAN. 

Statistics of Sheep in various countries— Wool produce of the world- 
British imports of Wool— Breeds of Sheep— Number of Sheep in the 
United Kingdom and her colonies— Characteristics of Wool— Our 
Imports of Wool — Exports of Wool and Woollen manufactures — 
Classifications of Wool 4 



CHAPTER II. 
PRODUCTS OF WOOL-BEARING ANIMALS. 

Sheep skins — Woollen manufacture and sub-divisions of the trade- 
Shoddy— Worsted, Carpets, etc.— The Goat tribe— Cowhair— Shawl 
wool and other goat hair — Statistics of Goats in various countries — 
Varieties of Goats — Glove t manufacture— Commerce in goat skins, 
and their uses— Leather bottles— The Llama tribe — Alpaca wool — 
Guanaco and Vicuna, and their uses— The Camel and its products 
—Pack camels and racing camels— Statistics of camels— Camels' 

hair 44 

b 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 
PRODUCTS OF THE BOVINE TRIBE. 

PAGE 

Cattle as food producers — Statistics of Cattle in various countries — Oxen 
— Bisons — Buffaloes— Continental breeds of Cattle — The Yak — The 
Musk ox— Meat supply from Cattle — Salted meat — Dried meat — 
Dairy products — Milk, Butter, and Cheese — Rennet . . . . 77 

CHAPTER IV. 
OTHER ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF CATTLE. 

Horns and hoofs — Horn comb manufacture — Horn buttons — Bones and 
their uses — The trade in Tallow — Soap — The trade in Hides— Leather 
manufacture — Tanning substances — Bookbinding and miscellaneous 
applications of Leather — Uses of offal, blood, glue — Cowhair — Boiling 
down Cattle 133 

CHAPTER V. 
THE DEER AND ANTELOPE TRIBES. 

Deer horns, their growth and uses — Commerce in them — Deer skins — 
Deer hair — Varieties of deer — The Moose or Elk — The Reindeer — 
Numbers killed — The Stag — The Musk deer and its perfume — 
Varieties of Antelopes — The Eland — The Springbok — Karosses or 
skin cloaks — The Gnu — The Giraffe — Various species of Antelopes . 177 

CHAPTER VI. 
FURS AND THE FUR TRADE. 

Early use of Furs — The chase of fur-bearing animals — No decrease in their 
numbers — Dying and preparing Furs — The Hudson's Bay Company's 
depots— Statistics of Furs imported — Commerce in Furs in the United 
States and Canada — Russia and France — Fur trade of Europe and 
the United Kingdom . . . 206 

CHAPTER VII. 

CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS. 

Uses of the Carnivora — Commerce in wild beasts — The Felines or Cat 
tribe, and their products — Lion, puma, tiger, panther, leopard, 
jaguar, ocelot, wild and common cat — Trade in their skins — Chetah 
or hunting leopard — Lynxes — Civet cats — Furs and economic pro- 
ducts of these animals 222 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER VIII. 
CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS— [cammed]. 

PAGE 

The Dog tribe — Varieties of dogs — Esquimaux dogs and dog-sledges — 
Statistics of dogs — Wolves and their depredations — Wolf Skins 
imported — Foxes— ^Varieties of Skins imported by the Hudson's Bay 
Company — Racoons, Bears, and Bear skins — Various species of Bears 236 

CHAPTER IX. 

CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS— {concluded). 

The American and European Badgers— The Polecats— Martens— Sables- 
Land and sea Otters — Statistics of imports — Seals and the Seal fishery 
— Statistics of seal-oil and seal skins — The Fur Seals of commerce 
—Sea lions— Sea elephant — Walrus 256 

CHAPTER X. 

MAMMALS OF SECONDARY IMPORTANCE, THEIR 
ECONOMIC PRODUCTS. 

Monkeys — Bats— Insectivorous and toothless animals— Hedgehog— Tatoo 
— Rodents — Porcupine — Agouti — Cavy — Chinchilla — Beaver — 
Statistics of Beaver skins imported — Castoreum — Musquash — 
Hamster, Marmots— Rabbits and Hares— Statistics— Use of their 
skins and flesh 288 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOLIDUNGULA AND PACHYDERMS AND THEIR USES. 

Horses, Asses, and Mules— Dray and waggon horses— The Arab horse- 
Statistics of Horses in various countries — Horses in Russia — Austra- 
lia—South America— Demand for Horses for military purposes- 
Products of the Horse— Flesh, hide, horse hair and its manufacture- 
Mules and Asses, numbers in different countries— The Quagga and 
Zebra— African and Asiatic Elephants— The trade in recent and 

fossil Ivory— Statistics of commerce in Ivory 307 

b 2 



viii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PACHYDERMS, OR THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS, AND THEIR 
PRODUCTS. 

PAGE 

Swine— Great value of the Pig— Various breeds— Our foreign imports of 
pigs, bacon, hams, and pork— Extent of pig breeding in the United 
States— Vast export of products— Immense slaughter-houses— Pigs in 
Russia— Pork as food— Trade in Lard and lard-oil— Hogskins— 
Bristles— Our import trade— Russia the chief source of supply — 
Statistics of Swine in various countries— Peccaries or wild hogs- 
Tapir— Rhinoceros — Use of its hide and horn — Hippopotamus— Its 
hide, flesh and teeth 34-8 



CHAPTER XIII. 

AQUATIC MAMMALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. 

Sirenia— Dugongs— Manatee— Whales and products of the Whale fishery 
—Changes in the trade— Its great decline— Whalebone— Spermaceti 
— Ambergris — Whale-oil — The Narwhal or sea unicorn — The 
common Dolphin — Porpoise — White whale — Porpoise-oil — Porpoise- 
leather 373 



CHAPTER XIV. 
MARSUPIALS AND THEIR USES. 

The Wombat — Opossums, Australian and American — Various species of 
Kangaroos, wallabies and wallaroos, hunted for their skins and flesh 

Kangaroo-leather — Fur cloaks— Smaller Marsupials — Bandicoots 

—Koala or native bear, native cat, kangaroo-rat, &c. 397 



Index 409 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Southdown Sheep . . . - . ' . ' . . " . . . 9 

Dorset ram . . . . . 10 

Cotswold ram ... . . . . . . . .10 

Shropshire ram . ■ . . . 13 

Diagram of rabbit fur and human hair 15 

Wool compared with vegetable fibres . 16 

Spanish Merino wool . . . . . . . . .18 

Rambouillet-Negretti ram 20 

African fat-tailed Sheep . 21 

Flock of sheep in Australia . . 23 

Different qualities of wool found on the Sheep 26 

Crimps of the fibre of Merino wool 28 

" Blumen " or flower in Merino fleece 29 

Representations of good and bad " stubble " in Wool . . . . 30 

Negretti Merino ram 32 

Representation of East Indian wool . 34 

Varieties of Wool as seen under the microscope 35 

Sheep -shearing operations in Australia • • 39 

Sheep- washing in Australia .41 

Mohair or goat's wool c 1 

Angora Goats . . . 53 

Llama of South America 65 

Alpaca of Peru 67 

The Mehari or racing Camel . 71 

Group of African Cattle S^ 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



Shorthorn cow 85 

African bullock waggon 86 

Hereford bull , . . . 87 

Thelemark cows of Norway 89 

Cow of the Swedish Herrgards or Nobles' race . . ... 91 

Podolian cow, Galicia 92 

Murzthal cow, Styria 93 

Montafun cow, Vorarlberg — Tyrolese race 94 

Brahmin bull . . 96 

Bison (Bos Americanus) 99 

European buffalo bull 101 

The yak or grunting ox (Poeph agus grunniens) 105 

Egerland cow, Bohemia 107 

Pinzgau cow, Salzberg race 109 

Mode of cutting up a carcase for meat no 

Mariahof cow, Styria . .112 

Group of cattle 113 

Kuhland cow, Moravia 117 

Devon yearling heifer 119 

Jersey bull 121 

Group of Hereford cattle 127 

Head of Argali (Ovis fioli) 137 

Mode of cutting horn combs 141 

Bony skeleton of hippopotamus 146 

Diagram of a " crop " or full hide 157 

Herd of mixed Cattle, Australia . 173 

Head and antlers of Arctic Reindeer 178 

Stages of growth of stag horn ♦ . . 179 

Deformed horns of deer 181 

Antlers of Elk or Moose 183 

Deer hair magnified 185 

Indian Deer in the jungle 187 

Reindeer ( Ta randus arcticus) 191 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xi 



PAG 



Esquimaux Dogs killing a Reindeer 192 

Musk deer jo,^ 

Hunting the Musk deer in China 198 

Musk pod — natural size 199 

White-eared Antelope head (Antilope leucotes) 200 

Bastard Gemsbok (Antilope leucophcea) 203 

Waterbok (Antilope ellipsyprymna) 205 

Arctic fur-bearing animals . . . . . . ...213 

Skull of Bear, showing the dentition 222 

Natives killing a Lion in Africa . "~~~~" 224 

Fight with a Leopard 228 

European Lynx (Felts lynx) 231 

Animals yielding Civet and Musk 233 

Civet cat 234 

Dog 237 

Arctic Dog sledge 238 

Esquimaux Dog 239 

Hungry Wolves 243 

Racoon (Procyon lotor) 248 

A Polar Bear hunt with Esquimaux dogs 249 

Polar Bear killing Walrus .251 

Killing a Polar Bear 253 

American Badger (Meles Labradoria) 256 

Pine Marten (Mustda leucopus) 260 

Group of Seals 268 

Esquimaux Dogs capturing a Seal . . 271 

Northern fur Seal. The Sea bear or Sea lion of Alaska , . ■ . . 279 

Antarctic fur Seal {Otafia Falklandica) . . . . . . . 283 

Walrus (Trichecus rosmarus) 284 

Walrus' skull, showing the powerful canine teeth 285 

Walrus on the ice 286 

Heads of Aye Aye of Madagascar, white-necked Marmoset, and East 

Indian red Monkey 289 



xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



Chinchilla lanigera . . ... . . . . ... 293 

Beaver {Castor Fiber) . . . . .*•.".'. . . 295 

Musk rat (Fiber Zibethicus) . . 297 

Quebec Marmot (Arctomys empet) a) 299 

Dead horse 317 

Native carried off by a Quagga ........ 327 

Section of skull of Elephant, showing the dentition 329 

Upper molar tooth of Indian elephant 331 

Upper molar tooth of African elephant 331 

African Elephants . 333 

Molars of Elephant . . 334 

Indian Elephant employed in a timber yard 338 

Siamese war Elephant 341 

Head of Indian Elephant ......... 343 

Ornamental application of scrivelloes or small tusks 347 

Old English breed of hogs 350 

The Berkshire pig 350 

Small white breed of pigs . . . . . . . . 351 

Carved Rhinoceros horn, Siam 368 

Hippopotamus amphibius . 370 

Dugong (Halicore Dugong) . . 375 

Manatee (Manatus Americanus) . . 378 

West Indian Manatee 379 

Right or Greenland Whale 381 

Cachalot, or Sperm Whale 381 

In pursuit of Whales 383 

Skull of whalebone Whale and plate of baleen 385 

Narwhal and Polar Bear . 392 

Polar Bear and white Whale 395 

The woolly Kangaroo (Macropus lanigera) 399 

Opossum (Didelphys ornata) . " . . 399 



1 1 



^S^J^Y^Cd^ ^Wcv^ 



ANIMAL PRODUCTS 



ORIGIN OF THE ANIMAL PRODUCTS 
COLLECTION. 

At the close of the Great Exhibition of 1851, many of the 
articles there displayed were presented to Her Majesty's Com- 
missioners by various Foreign Governments, and numerous 
individual exhibitors, to form the nucleus of a permanent Trade 
Collection. It was considered that such a Collection would not 
only be interesting as constituting a lasting memorial of the 
Exhibition and a record of the state of Industry in 185 1, but that 
it might be rendered of great practical benefit to the Manufac- 
turing and Mercantile communities if systematically arranged for 
purposes of reference, with a view both to technical instruction 
and to the ever-changing and increasing wants of trade in this 
great commercial country. The Collection thus presented to the 
Commissioners contained many and valuable specimens in the 
three great kingdoms of Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral products. 
Great progress had been made in the development of two 
important National Collections illustrative of the Vegetable and 
Mineral kingdoms respectively, viz., the Museum of Economic 
Botany at Kew, and the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn 
Street, and to these the vegetable and mineral products were 
respectively consigned. 

No corresponding Collection for the Animal Kingdom had, 
however, previously existed. The Royal Commissioners, there- 
fore, thought it desirable to endeavour to supply this deficiency 



XIV 



ITS LOCAIITY AND DEVELOPMENT. 



by the formation of a Collection of Animal Products, the articles 
of that class, presented to them in 1851, serving as an appropriate 
nucleus for such a Collection. The Society of Arts, being 
equally impressed with the importance of this object, co-operated 
with the Commissioners towards its attainment, and joined in 
securing the services of Professor Solly for a period of two years, 
ending in 1855, to superintend the formation of the Collection; 
Dr. Lyon Playfair, M.P., the then scientific referee of the Depart- 
ment of Science and Art, giving valuable assistance in the develop- 
ment and arrangement of the articles, a work in which the author 
of these pages also took a not inconsiderable part. The Collection 
was first exhibited to the public in 1857 ; and in 1858 the whole 
of the Collection of Animal Products, as it then existed, was 
presented by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 
1 85 1 to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of 
Council on Education. It was then exhibited as part of the 
South Kensington Museum, where it remained for several years, 
but was subsequently removed to the Branch Museum of the 
Department at Bethnal Green, where it is now arranged in the 
Lower Gallery on the South Side of the Building. 

As the Food Products from Animals, and the Economic 
relations of Insects to man, are dealt with in separate Handbooks 
or Guides to those Collections by other writers, the various 
products of the Mammalia alone are proposed to be touched 
upon in this Manual, which will be devoted chiefly to those used 
for Manufactures, without following in strict order the natural 
history classification; but tracing the Collection as nearly as 
possible in the methodical manner in which it has been arranged, 
and adding to the text such illustrations of animals and their 
products, as may serve to render it interesting and useful, and 
help to make it more generally understood. 

The Classification (beginning at the East end of the Gallery) 
adopted originally in the arrangement of the Collection of 
Animal Products is as follows : — 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLLECTION, xv 

Class I. — Animal Substances employed for Textile Manufactures and Clothing. 

Division I. Wool, Mohair, and Alpaca. 
,,» II. Hair, Bristles, and Whalebone. 

III. Silk. 

IV. Furs. 

,, V. Feathers, Down, and Quills. 

,, VI. Gelatin, Skins, and Leathers. 

Class II. — Animal Substances used for Domestic and Ornamental Purposes. 

Division I. Bone and Ivory. 
,, II. Horns and Hoofs. 

,, III. Tortoise-shell. 
,, IV. Shells and Marine Animal Products for Manufacture, 

Ornament, &c. 
„ V. Animal Oils and Fats. * 

CLASS III.— Pigments and Dyes yielded by Animals. 
Division I. Cochineal and Kermes. 
,, II. Lac and its applications. 

III. Nut Galls, Gall Dyes, Blood, &c. 
,, IV. Sepia, Tyrian Purple, Purree, &c. 

Class IV. — Animal Substances 7isedin Pharmacy and in Perfumery, 

Division I. Musk, Civet, Castoreum, Hyraceum, and Ambergris. 
,, II. Cantharides, Leeches, &c. 

Class V '.—Application of Waste Matters. 

Division I. Guts and Bladders. 
,, II. Albumen, Casein, &c. 

,, III. Prussiates of Potash and Chemical Products of Bone, &c. 
,, IV. Animal Manures. — Guano, Coprolites, Animal Carcases, 
Bones, Fish Manures, &c. 

The special object of this Collection is not merely the forma- 
tion of a Museum showing the various Animal Products entering 
into British and Foreign Commerce, but, at the same time, to 
instruct and inform the visitor as to the magnitude of the trade, 
ihe varieties, peculiar characteristics and suitability for various 
purposes, of different substances. While, therefore, the mere 
visitor for pleasure will be gratified by a passing glance at such a 
general collection of useful and ornamental products, the more 
thoughtful and inquiring will here find ample opportunities pre- 
sented to them of studying quietly, systematically, and in pro- 



xvi IMPORTANCE OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 

gressive detail, the principal Arts and Manufactures arising out 
of Animal substances which result in such individual benefit, 
and contribute so greatly to our national wealth and extensive 
commerce. 

The objects exhibited are arranged into classes, groups, and sub- 
divisions, which proceed step by step from the raw material, through 
the various stages of manufacture, up to the finished product. 

The Food Products of Animal origin are illustrated in the Food 
Collection arranged in the opposite gallery. 

Descriptive general, and special, framed labels are hung about 
the galleries; every case, article, and particular manufacture is 
fully described, and cheap catalogues are also on sale, so that 
the visitor will have little difficulty in gleaning useful information 
as he proceeds. 

The extent and importance of the trade in Animal Products 
generally is probably little understood. It would be indeed diffi- 
cult to form a precise estimate of its magnitude even as regards 
the trade, industry, and money value for the United Kingdom 
alone, but there are some few data from which an approximate 
account of the raw materials and manufactures derived from the 
Animal Kingdom may be formed. We have tolerably correct 
agricultural statistics of our domestic Live Stock, and also official 
records made annually by the Board of Trade, of the value 
of the Imports and Exports. If we take, therefore, the data from 
these for the year 1875 (which, it may be incidentally remarked, was 
not a very prosperous trade year), we shall arrive at some idea of 
the enormous figures and the large interests involved. 

Value of the Imports of Animal origin brought into the United 
Kingdom in 1875. 

Live Animals ,£8,466,226 

Food Products : 

Bacon and Hams 6,982,470 

Pork, salted and fresh 590,356 

Iteef, salted 35 7, 201 

,, fresh or preserved 97,136 



VALUE OF OUR IMPORTS. xvii 

Butter . . . ... . . . 8,502,084 

Cheese . . 4,709,508 

Eggs 2,559,860 

Fish, fresh ,. . . 218,031 

,, cured or salted . . . . . . . 1,048,546 

Poultry and Game, including Rabbits . . . 328,044 

Articles chiefly for Manufactures : 

Bones for manufacturing ...... ^"74,059 

Bristles 419,203 

Cochineal . . . . . .... 492,976 

Feathers for beds . 126,177 

,, for ornament . . . . . . 713,199 

Galls — ^. ..- . . 63,359 

Lac resin and lac dyes 806,117 

Hair of various kinds 1,483,984 

,, manufactures 68,323 

Hats of felt . . . . . „ . . 51,498 

Hides, wet and dry 4,203,371 

,, tanned or otherwise prepared . . . 2,814,042 

Horns and Hoofs . . ...".. . . . 172,966 

Isinglass . . . . . . . . 86,443 

Lard 1,634,769 

Leather manufactures 308,290 

,, Boots and Shoes 240,000 

,, Gloves 2,430,876 

Manures: Bones of Animals 630,656 

„ Guano 1,293,436 

Oils: Train or Blubber 489,817 

,, Spermaceti or head matter . . ... 427,884 

„ Animal 37,433 

Rags, Woollen, for re- working .... 599,402 

Silk, raw and thrown 3,546,456 

„ waste 415,085 

,, manufactures of all kinds 12,264,532 

Skins of various kinds (not furs) .... 2,494,979 

Furs, Pelts, and manufactures of Furs . . . . 1,375,512 

Specimens of Natural History . . . . . 22,785 

Tallow 2,045,863 

I vor y • • 772,371 

Wax 118,549 

Whale-fins . . ... . . . . 42,240 

Wool of various kinds 23,451,887 

Woollen yarn . 1,491,117 

,, manufactures ...... 4,308,357 

^105,577,155 



xviii VALUE OF OUR EXPORTS. 

These are only the principal articles ; sponges, mother-of-pearl, 
cowries, and other shells, tortoise-shell, leeches, cantharides, and 
many other products, are not included, being aggregately grouped 
by the Board of Trade under "Miscellaneous Articles." 

There are also certain vegetable substances imported, which 
are chiefly used in the preparation and manufacture of Animal 
•Products, such as all the tanning materials, which should be taken 
into consideration ; these include the following values : — 

Barks and Extracts for tanning .... ^*395»3 I 8 

Cutch I4°>i5° 

Gambier 601,105 

Sumach 246,343 

Valonia 622,019 

Myrobalans ........ 100,000 

^2,104,935 

Value of the Animals and Animal Substances, the produce of the 
United Kingdom, exported in 1875. 

Food substances : 

Butter ,£240,281 

Cheese 88,143 

Fish . . . 1,192,481 

Provisions 693,294 

Horses 241,106 

Manufactures and materials, &c. : 

Hats of all sorts 1,045,440 

Leather manufactures . ...... 3,881,168 

Silk, Thrown, Twist and Yam .... 880,923 

Silk manufactures I »734>5 1 9 

Skins and Furs of all sorts 946,694 

Soap 310,511 

Umbrellas and Parasols ...... 356,467 

Wool 928,264 

Woollen and Worsted Yarn 5>°99,307 

Woollen manufactures 21,659,325 

£39,297,923 

This is exclusive of a number of minor articles not enumerated 
or specified in the Board of Trade Returns. 



VALUE OF OUR LIVE STOCK. xix 

Taking the latest Agricultural Returns as our guide for numbers, 
and assuming a very moderate value for each animal, we get at the 
following approximate estimate of the value of our domestic stock. 

Live Stock in Great Britain and Channel Islands, 1875 : 



Horses * . 


. . 1,349,691 at £16 


£21,587,056 


Cattle . 


• 6,050,797 „ 10 


60,507,970 


Sheep 


. . 29,243,790 „ 1 10 


43,865,685 


Swine . 


• 2,245,932 „ 1 5 


2,807,415 



£128,768,126 

There are no returns of asses and. mules, goats and poultry, for 
Great Britain. 

Number and value of Live Stock in Ireland in 1875 : t 



Horses and Mules . 


• 547,675 at 


£10 


£5,476,75o 


Asses . 


179,742 „ 


1 


179,742 


Cattle 


. 4,ni,990 ,, 


10 


41,119,900 


Sheep . 


. 4,248,158 „ 


1 10 


6,372,237 


Goats 


. 268,894 „ 


O 10 


134,447 


Pigs . 


• 1,249,235 „ 


1 5 


i,56r,544 


Poultry . . . 


. 12,055,768 „ 


1 


602,788 



£55,447,408 

When we find that the figures we have quoted give an estimated 
money value exceeding ^33 1,000,000 sterling, and that to this 
has to be added all the dairy produce, the poultry and their 
products for Great Britain ; the annual clip of British wool, which 
maybe estimated at 160,000,000 lbs., worth at least ^8,000,000; 
the hides and skins, tallow, horns, bones, and other offal, horse 
and cow hair, woollen rags collected, the game and rabbits, the 
sea and river fisheries; besides the products of our woollen, 
leather, glove, silk, soap and comb manufactures retained for 
home consumption, furs, brushes, and many other articles, we 
ought to add a great many millions more to the aggregate value 
or total. 

* Returned by occupiers of land alone, and quite exclusive of horses kept in 
towns, racehorses, &c, of the numbers of which there are no complete returns. 

f These values are the old official prices, and many are much below the 
present value for horses, &c. 



xx AGGREGATE VALUE OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 

These collective figures of the value of our Live Stock and of 
the Animal Products imported and exported, will at least show 
what a large amount of capital is invested in them, and that 
they must necessarily give busy and remunerative occupation to 
a great number of persons in the raising, collection, distribution 
and after preparation of most of the articles, to fit them for various 
uses, whilst the amount of shipping tonnage employed, and the 
inland transport by road and rail from place to place, of the raw 
materials and the finished manufactures, are other great sources 
of active industry, in which numbers of our population are specially 
interested. 



INTRODUCTION. 

CLASSIFICATION OF MAMMALS. 

Naturalists have described more than 2,000 species of 
Mammals, or animals which suckle their young. They are 
characterised by warm red blood, and breathe by means of lungs. 
They have been grouped into different Orders, each divided into 
Genera, which usually include several individual Species. 

Amongst them are the cattle of our fields, beasts of burden, 
and domesticated animals of many kinds. Most of these are 
familiar to all ; but a more perfect knowledge of their nature 
contributes to the improvement of agricultural stock, affords 
indications of rational methods of treating the diseases to which 
they are subject, and makes us acquainted with the sources of 
supply of many Animal Products largely used for food or in the 
various arts and manufactures. 

The following, although it may not satisfy all as a classification 
of Mammals, is yet sufficiently clear for the purposes of this work, 
which is intended as a description of the Economic uses of the 
Animals, and their Commercial products, rather than a treatise 
on Systematic Zoology. 

I. Ouadrumana, or four handed.* Examples — Ape, Baboon, 
Monkey. 

There are about 100 species belonging to this order at present known. 
In some countries the flesh of monkeys is eaten. The skins and skele- 
tons form articles of commerce, and live animals are purchased for 
zoological gardens. 

* The order Bimana — Man — has been passed over, the only products of any 
commercial value derived from the human race being the hair of females, in 
which some considerable trade is carried on, and skulls and skeletons for 
museums. In the Waste Products Collection will be found illustrations of the 
use of human hair, and in Case 87 is a piece of cloth made with human hair ; 
ladies' muffs have also been made of it. 

B 



2 CLASSIFICATION OF MAMMALS. 

II. Cheiroptera. Example — Bats. 

Some of these are fruit eaters, others insect eaters. The flesh of a 
few bats is eaten. 

III. Insectivora. Insect eaters. Examples — The Hedgehog and 
Mole. 

This order is not of much commercial importance. 

IV. Carnivora. Flesh eaters — beasts of prey. Examples — Lion, 
Cat, Fox, Bear, Seal. 

This is the most important order of animals for the supply of skins 
and furs to commerce. The flesh of some carnivorous animals is 
eaten in certain districts. 

V. RODENTIA. . Gnawing animals. Examples— Rat, Hare, Rabbit, 
Beaver, Squirrel. 

Many furnish furs to commerce, and their flesh serves for food. 
380 species are known to naturalists. 

The great incisor teeth being separated widely from the molars is 
the characteristic of this order, and enables the animals to gnaw hard 
substances, such as wood, with facility. 

VI. Edentata. Animals wholly or partially without teeth. To 
this order are added the Monotremes. Examples — Armadillo, Sloth. 

This order is commercially unimportant. 

VII. Ruminantia. Ruminants, or cud chewers, who remasticate 
their food, which, after it is brought into the first stomach and imper- 
fectly digested, comes again to the mouth. 

They are cloven-hoofed, and with but few exceptions have horns. 
The horns are either solid, deciduous, as in the deer, persistent, with 
a core, as in the antelope and goat, or round and smooth as in the ox 
and buffalo : some of the buffaloes, however, have them wrinkled. 
Examples — Ox, Sheep, Goat, Camel, Alpaca. 

This is the most valuable order of any for the commercial products 
it supplies, in animal food, skins, wool, tallow, &c. 

VIII. Solidungula, or solid hoofed, on each foot only one toe or 
hoof. Examples — Horse, Ass. 

These are exceedingly useful to man as draught animals and for 
r products, hair, skins, flesh, &c. 



CLASSIFICATION OF MAMMALS 3 

IX. Pachydermata. Thick-skinned animals. Examples— -Ele- 
phant, Hippopotamus, Hog. 

By some naturalists the Pachydermata are made to include the 
Solidungula.* 

Some of the animals of this order, as the hog and the elephant, are 
-of high commercial importance. 

X. Aquatic Mammals. Examples— Manatee, Dugong, Beluga, 
Whale. 

By naturalists the manatees are grouped in a separate order termed 
Sirenia, the seals and otters belong to the Carnivorous order, and the 
whales to the Cetacea. 

The aquatic mammals are commercially valuable for their flesh as 
food, for their skins, and the oil obtained from their blubber. 

XT. Marsupialia. Pouched animals. Examples — Kangaroo, 
'Opossum, Wombat. 

The animals of this order are sought for their flesh and skins ; 
some are herbivorous, others carnivorous. 

* One of the most recent classifications is that establishing the order 
Ungulata, hoofed mammals, which combines the three divisions, Pachy- 
dermata, Solidungula, and Ruminantia, which have been thrown into three 
new sections or sub-orders, and stand classified thus, according to Mr. Wilson 
{Elements of Zoology): — 

A. Artiodactyla. B. Perissodactyla. C. Peoboscidea. 

§ 1. Omnivora. § 1. Solidungula. Elephants. 

§ 2. Ruminantia. § 2. Multungula. 

Mr. Andrew Murray classifies the Ungulata in the following manner :— 

A. Monodactyla (The Solidungida). Horses, &c. 

B. Artiodactyla. 

1. Ruminants, including camels, oxen, sheep, antelopes, camelopard,. 

deer, musk deer and chevrolins (Tragulidae). 

2. Anoplotheridae (extinct). 

3. Non Ruminants, including the peccary, swine, hippopotamus. 

C. Multungula. 

Tapiridae — tapirs. 
Nasicornia — rhinoceros. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WOOL-PRODUCING ANIMALS AND THEIR USES TO MAN. 

The Collection commences at the east end of the raised floor gallery y 
immediately facing the main entrance. It starts with the woolly 
coverings of animals in all their variety, and illustrates the 
economic uses to which these are applied— for clothing for the 
human race, for fabrics of differ e7it kinds, carpets, felts, &>c. 
This preliminary Chapter is specially devoted to a desc?'iptio7i 
of the varieties of the Sheep; the different breeds or races which 
careful culture has produced; the characteristics of the kinds 
oj wool obtained from special breeds in various coimtries. The 
average weights of the clip of wool from the fleeces of different 
sheep are given, official statistics of the mimber of sheep in different 
countries, the wool produce of the world, and the sources of our 
foreign supply of wool. The classifications adopted in sorting 
out fleeces, the special distinctive characters of wool, fur, and hair 
are pointed out, and their chemical composition j the processes of 
shearing, wool-washing, scouring, and dyeing, are then touched 
upon. 

The Sheep. — Of the domesticated animals the Ruminants 
among the Mammals are the most serviceable to man, and have 
multiplied and been diffused more generally over the face of the 
globe than any others. Their commercial products are also of the 
greatest importance, and as the Ovine race stand, perhaps, the 
highest in estimation for their direct use, we commence with a 
description of those of the Sheep, as the principal wool-producing 
animal. 

Of the original breed of this invaluable animal, nothing certain 
is known. Several varieties of wild sheep have by naturalists 
been considered entitled to the distinction of being the parent 
stock, and the marked differences between the wild and domestic 
species are readily accounted for by the known variability of the 



WOOL-PRODUCING ANIMALS— THE SHEEP. 5 

animal. No other animal seems to yield so submissively to the 
manipulations of culture. 

The sheep gives immediate employment to thousands, who in 
their several spheres utilise different parts of it for the various uses 
of the great human family. Among these we have the breeder, 
the butcher, the skinner, the tanner, shoemaker, tallow chandler, 
etc. Then the " fleece," which we call wool, gives occupation to 
the wool-brokers, wool-staplers, spinners, manufacturers, clothiers, 
and many subordinate branches of trade to which these give rise. 

On account of its numerous useful properties, the sheep has 
deservedly become an object of national consideration in almost 
all temperate countries. 

It is of the most extensive utility to man. We are clothed by 
its fleece ; the flesh is a delicate and wholesome food ; the skin 
-dressed forms different parts of our apparel, and is used for 
various economic purposes. The entrails, properly prepared and 
twisted, serve as strings for musical instruments. The calcined 
bones have industrial uses. Sheep's milk is thicker than that of 
cows, and consequently yields a greater quantity of butter and 
•cheese. From the Larsac race of sheep in France, the celebrated 
Roquefort cheese is made to the extent of about 6 or 7 mil- 
lion pounds annually. There is no manure so fertilising as that 
of the sheep, and it does not so readily waste by exposure as that 
of other animals. A German agriculturist has calculated that the 
droppings from 1000 sheep during a single night would manure 
an acre of land sufficiently. 

If we look next at sheep as a source of our animal food supply, 
having regard only to the United Kingdom, we find that the 
agricultural returns of 1874 gave the number of sheep and lambs 
at 34,800,000. Now it is estimated by good authorities that half 
of our stock of sheep are slaughtered annually, and as these 
17,400,000 animals will average 56 lbs. per head, we have thus 
an annual supply of 8,700,000 cwts. of meat per annum, besides 
1,000,000 imported animals, which will give about 450,000 cwts. 



6 WOOL-PRODUCING ANIMALS— THE SHEEP. 



more of mutton. The average wholesale price of mutton per stone 
of 8 lbs. in the Metropolitan market is now 6s. $d. against 4s. $d* 
a quarter of a century ago. When we consider their value, also ? 
for food, on the Continent, in America and the Colonies, and 
the quantity of tallow they yield, as well as skins for the tanner 
and glove maker, we shall begin to understand how immense is 
the value of the Ovine race to man, both for sustenance and 
clothing. In many foreign countries, the flesh of the sheep is. 
disliked, or at least rarely eaten, and the animal is tended solely 
for its fleece. In Spain, except by the poorest, mutton is con- 
sidered unfit for food. 

The following figures give the number of sheep in various-, 
countries according to the latest official returns : — 



Europe. 




America. 




Russia . 


. 1870, 


48,132,000 


United States . . 


1875, 


33,783,600- 


Sweden 


■ 1873, 


1,695,434 


British America . 


1871, 


3,337,763 


Norway . 


• 1865, 


1,710,000 


Uruguay 


1872, 


20,000,000 


Denmark . 


. 1871, 


1,842,481 


Argentine Con- 






Iceland . 


. 1866, 


800,000 


federation . . 


1875, 


7o,ooo,ooo> 


German Empire 


• 1873, 


24,999,406 


Falkland Islands 


1875, 


6o,ooo- 


Holland . 


1873, 


901,515 








Belgium . 


1866, 


586,097 








France 


. 1872, 


24,589,647 


Asia. 




Portugal 


1870, 


2,706,777 


Ceylon 


1874, 


61,453 


Spain . 


1865, 


22,054,967 


Mauritius . . 


1875, 


28,036 


Italy 


1874, 


6,977,104 








Austria Proper 


1871, 


5,026,398 








Hungary 


1870, 


14,289,130 


Australasia 




Switzerland 


1866, 


447,001 


New South Wales 


1875, 


22,872,882 


Greece . 


1867, 


2,539,538 


Queensland . 


1874, 


7,268,946 


Turkey . 


1870, 


16,000,000 


Victoria 


1875, 


11,221,036 


Moldavia am 


I 




South Australia . 


1875, 


6,120,211 


Wallachia 


• 1873, 


4,786,294 


Western Australia 


1875, 


748,536 


Great Britain . 


1876, 


28,178,950 


Tasmania . . 


1875, 


1,714,168 


Ireland 

Af 


1875, 

RICA. 


4,248,158 


New Zealand 


1874, 


11,674,863 


Egypt . 


IS7I, 


1 84, 899 


West 


Indies 




Algeria 


1 866, 


10,000,000 


Jamaica 


1869, 


21,761 


Cape Colony . 


1875, 


11,008,339 


Martinique and 






Natal . 


1873, 


343,763 


Guadaloupe 


1865, 


23,607 



WOOL-PRODUCING ANIMALS— THE SHEEP. 7 

Although upwards of 160,000,000 pounds of wool are produced 
annually in the United Kingdom, yet it may almost be said that 
sheep are kept in this country, not so much for their fleece as for 
the meat their carcases furnish, and for the great benefit they 
confer on agriculture. They have indeed been aptly designated 
"the sheet anchor of British agriculture," so indispensable are 
they to the scientific farmers of the present day. But in im- 
proving the carcase of these valuable animals, great care has 
been bestowed upon their wool-producing capabilities, in order to 
preserve and increase as much as possible the quantity and quality 
of this important article. The wools of this country are therefore 
abundant in quantity, and of good, strong, and very useful quali- 
ties ; although not of such fine description as the Saxony, Spanish, 
and other Merinoes. 

The Animal Products Collection of the Bethnal Green Branch 
Museum is particularly rich in fine samples of fleeces, various kinds 
of wools, and stuffed heads of the principal breeds of sheep. 

On the east wall will be noticed— 

No. 1. A fine skin and head of a Hampshire Down ram, with a 
fleece of two years' growth. 

Nos. 2, 3, 4. Stuffed specimens of small sheep from the Shet- 
land Islands. 

Nos. 7 and 8. Two framed lithographs of South Down and 
Highland sheep. 

No. 9. An oil painting of one of the earliest improved Merino 
rams, known as the First Consul. 

In two large glazed cases against the east wall are sixty fleeces, 
with displayed locks, of all the choicest wools, British and 
foreign. 

A breed of sheep ,to produce fine wool is distinct from a breed 
to produce mutton and wool. Of fine-woolled sheep the pure 
Merino takes the first place, producing a heavier fleece and of 
equal quality. It has also another great advantage over the Saxon 
Merino, in being much larger, hardier, and less liable to disease, 



8 WOOL PRODUCE OF THE WORLD. 

The Saxon Merino is found by farmers, even in Saxony, to be 
so unprofitable, that the numbers kept are being gradually di- 
minished. 

Wool Produce of the World. — The following table, com- 
piled from the most reliable information obtainable, furnishes an 
approximate estimate of the production of sheep's wool in the 
principal countries of the world in 1874. 

Pounds. 

South America ..... 350,000,000 

Asia, including Russia in Asia . . . 320,000,000 

Australia ...... 250,000,000 

United Kingdom 200,000,000 

United States 200,000,000 

France 150,000,000 

European Russia ..... 150,000,000 

Turkey, European and Asiatic . . . 140,000,000 

Spain 62,000,000 

Austria ....... 60,000,000 

Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium . . 60,000,000 

Hungary ...... 45,000,000 

North Africa ..... 50,000,000 

South Africa 50,000,000 

Italy 40,000,000 

Persia ....... 40,000,000 

Portugal 12,000,000 

Canadian Dominion ..... 12,000,000 

Sweden and Norway .... 12,000,000 

Denmark 10,000,000 

Greece ....... 10,000,000 

Mexico 500,000 

Total . . 2,223,500,000 



Statistics of our Wool Imports. — The demands of our 
Woollen Manufactures require a large and increasing supply of 
the raw material ; of this only a small proportion, estimated at 
160,000,000 to 200,000,000 lbs. annually, is produced in the 
United Kingdom, and hence we are largely dependent on foreign- 
supplies. Fortunately, the British possessions are increasing their 
wool production year by year, and rendering us more indepen- 



WOOL IMPORTS—BRITISH BREEDS OF SHEEP. 9 



dent of supplies from foreign countries, as the following figures 
of our imports will show : — 



Year. 


From Australia. 


South Africa. 


India. 


Total Imports from 
all Countries. 


1831 
184I 
I8 5 I 
l86l 
1871 

1875 


lbs. 

2,493,000 

12,399,000 

41,800,000 

68,506,000 

182,710,000 

238,631,716 


lbs. 

48,000 

1,080,000 

5,817,000 

18,676,000 

32,972,000 

44,112,213 


lbs. 


lbs. 

31,652,000 

56,180,000 

83,311,000 

144,067,000 

319,385,000 

360,903,270 


3,009,000 

4,550,000 

I9,l6l,000 

18,153,000 

22,68o,I26 



British Breeds. — England has for a long period been cele- 




TWO-YEAR OLD SOUTHDOWN, SHOWN AT TAUNTON, 1875. 

brated for her sheep. The leading and most improved short- 
woolled breed is the small brown-faced Southdown, chiefly 



BRITISH BREEDS OF SHEEP. 



occupying the hills of Sussex, but also now diffused over other 
counties. Its fleece, short and fine, weighs from three to fou 




DORSET RAM, SHOWN AT CROYDON, 1 875. 

pounds; and its mutton, fine in flavour and grain, weighs, in 
two-year-old wethers, about eighteen pounds the quarter. 




COTSWOLD, SHOWN AT CROYDON AND TAUNTON, 1875. 



AVERAGE WEIGHT OF FLEECES. ir 

The Dorset is another short-woolled sheep, see preceding page. 

The only other breed now looked upon as pure stock are the 
white-faced, long-woolled sheep, which are known as Leicesters 
from their home being the great midland grass district, of which 
Leicester is the centre.* The numerous other breeds are 
generally traceable to some amalgamation by crossing and re- 
crossing. 

The breeds of sheep in the British Islands may be divided 
into two principal groups : — i. Those of the plains, grass lands,. 
and arable districts, which vary greatly in size, quality of mutton, 
and the weight of wool they produce ; and, 2. The hill or moun- 
tain sheep, which are less variable in general character, although 
they are greatly altered by the quality of their native ground and 
the altitude at which they generally range. The bulk of the 
mutton and wool of the country is now produced by the flocks 
kept on the old pastures and such lands as are worth cultivation 
by the means applied to modern agriculture. 

It is not necessary to enumerate and describe the numerous 
varieties and sub-varieties of breeds of sheep common in different 
parts of England and other countries. Sheep of the Cotswold 
long-wool breed have been known to reach the enormous weight 
of eighty-four pounds per quarter, or 336 lbs. the carcase ; and 
fleeces weighing above twenty pounds are not uncommon. + 

Average Weight of Fleeces. — In 185 1 Mr. Thomas Southey r 
after extensive inquiries, took the average weight for the United 
Kingdom at 5 lbs. Considerable changes have taken place in 
the actual weights of fleeces, owing to improved breeding; and 
even during the last quarter of a century this has been the case 
with sheep bred in agricultural districts, though not so much 
with those bred on pasture lands. The weights, moreover, are 

•* Frame No. 29 shows the characteristics of this wool, and in Case 46 are 
samples and locks of long wool from Earl Fitzwilliam's flocks. 

f For these four representations of prize sheep of special English breeds 
we are indebted to the courtesy of the proprietor of the Agricultural Gazette. 



12 SHEEP IN GREAT BRITAIN 6- HER COLONIES. 



considered to vary from year to year as much as from a quarter 
to half a pound per fleece, according to the seasons and breed. 

The average weight of the clip of half-breds is from 5^ to 7 lbs., 
of Leicesters 7 to 8 lbs. Some of the large breeds in Gloucester 
and Somerset will weigh 7 lbs., and in Devon and Cornwall, un- 
washed fleeces 7 J lbs. In the East Riding of Yorkshire a large 
breed with deep staple and bright hair weighs 8 J lbs. The average 
weight for Wales and Scotland is 4J lbs. The Irish fleece ranges 
from 6 to 6h lbs. 

Allowance should be made, in all wools unwashed or in the 
grease, of one third in weight for clean wool. The quantity as 
well as the quality of the wool yielded by the sheep varies much 
with the breed, the climate, the food, and consequently with the 
soil on which the food is grown. The Hereford sheep, which are 
kept lean, and give the finest wool, yield only i| to 2 lbs. of 
washed wool, while a Merino will often give a fleece weighing 
three times that amount. 

The following figures give the number of sheep officially re- 
turned in the United Kingdom and principal British Colonies for 
the year 1S74. 



Great Britain 
Ireland . 



Total for the United Kingdom 



New South Wales . 

Victoria 

South Australia 

Western Australia 

Queensland 

Tasmania . 

New Zealand . 

Canadian Dominion . 

Prince Edward Island 

Cape of Good Hope . 

Natal 



Total for the principal British Colonies 



30,313,941 
4,411,698 

34,725,639 

22,872,882 
11,221,036 

6,120,211 
777,861 

7,268,946 

1,714,168 
11,674,863 

3,155,509 

147,364 

12,000,000 

343,763 
77,296,603 



CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOL. 



x 3 



As regards the number of sheep, Russia exceeds the United 
Kingdom proper, having 48,000,000 head ; the United States- 
approximate closely to Great Britain in the number ; whilst 
the other principal European pastoral countries stand as follows, 
in round figures: — France, 24,600,000; Spain, 22,000,000;. 
Prussia, 19,600,000; Hungary, 14,000,000; and Italy 7,000,000. 




LORD CHESHAM'S SHROPSHIRE, SHOWN AT CROYDON, 1875. 

Characteristics of Wool. — Wool resembles hair in many 
of its peculiarities ; the chief point of difference being, that 
while the surface of the latter is smooth, that of the former is 
imbricated, a quality upon which the felting power of wool 
depends. This difference is not, however, perceptible to the 
naked eye or touch ; indeed it would be very difficult to point 
out any perceptible qualities distinctive of the two substances. 
The bristles of the hog and the 'fine wool of the lamb can readily 
be distinguished from one another, for these are the extreme 
examples of the two substances ; but in many cases hair and 
wool pass so completely into each other, that it is often im- 
possible to mark the line of demarcation ; and they have the 
same chemical composition. 



i A CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOL. 

The importance of the industrial employments of wool can 
•scarcely be overrated. The pelage of mammiferous animals is 
composed of various kinds of hair, the most important of which 
are silky hairs and woolly hairs, and according to various cir- 
cumstances the one or the other of these varieties predominates. 
The physiological conditions of age, sex, food, and climate serve 
to vary the quality of the fleeces. It is therefore well to study 
the characters of the hairs employed in manufactures, especially 
the woolly ones, by ascertaining their length, diameter, elasticity, 
etc., under the microscope. Thus examined we shall find that 
wool presents fine transverse or oblique lines (an inch containing 
from 2,000 to 4,000), which indicate an imbricated scaly surface. 
This characteristic, and the twisted form of fine wool, are the 
-qualities which make it valuable for manufactures. 

It has been well observed by Dr. Crisp that the coverings of 
•animals are wonderfully adapted to the climates and elements 
which they inhabit. Thus we have a warm thick fur in the ex- 
treme northern zone, a woolly coat for the sheep in the temperate 
regions, a thin hairy covering in the tropics — in the air the light 
and beautiful feather — in the water the crust or scale. What 
armourer could make a coat of mail to equal that in which the 
armadillo is invested ? how well it protects the animal from the 
weapons of its assailants. 

The common impression is that wool is confined to the sheep, 
but experience shows that a great variety of other animals pro- 
duce it also, and that under the long hair of the goat, for example, 
there will generally be found a certain amount of true wool ; and 
we might go even .further, and consider that, with very few 
exceptions, the external covering of all mammalian animals is a 
variable mixture of hair and wool. 

Of the two extreme contrasts of hair produced on domesticated 
animals, one is rigid, shining, coarse, well fixed. It is the " jarre " 
which exists nearly alone in the ordinary conditions of the horse 
and the ox. The other hair or down, hidden under the first, is 



CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOL. 



*5 



extinguished by being more curled and tangled, and more dull 
than the jarre, and also much finer. It is the " wool" which 
exists nearly alone in the Merino sheep and in the Cashmere 
goats. Wool is greatly preferred to the jarre by the manufac- 
turer, because it is much finer, curls more readily, and is found 
bristling with little scaly asperities (due to its mode of develop- 
ment) which render it more adapted for felting and the manu- 
facture of tissues. From the coats of sheep, goats, rabbits, etc., 
the coarse and rigid hair is carefully removed. 




HUxMAN HAIR. 



RABBIT FUR. 



Wool, we find, is not then peculiar to the sheep, but forms an un- 
dercoat beneath ,the long hair in very many animals. Articles for 
clothing have been made from the wool of the musk-ox of North 
America, and from the wool of the ibex of Little Thibet ; but in 
these and other such instances, they have been produced as objects 
•of curiosity rather than for any commercial purpose. 

In the sheep, judicious management has in the course of years 
increased the growth of wool, and rendered the occurrence of hair 
unusual. Wherever attention has been paid to sheep-breeding, 
there a marked improvement has been manifested in the particular 
direction in which the improvement has been sought, whether in 
the carcase or in the fleece. The sheep produces the finest 
quality of wool in the warmer temperate and sub-tropical zones 
-only. 



i6 



CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOL. 




FIBRES OF FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, COTTON, AND WOOL MAGNIFIED. 



Wool seems to be the only substance provided by Nature to 
satisfy all conditions required for beauty and utility in clothing 
the inhabitants of climates where extremes of heat and cold 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 01 WOOL. 17 

prevail. There is not a single property desirable in a fabric for 
human use that is not found in wool. 

The engraving on the opposite page shows the contrast between 
vegetable and animal fibres as seen under the microscope. 

Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 represent flax, jute, hemp, and cotton, and 
figures 5 to 10 magnified representations of coarse long, fine Saxony, 
and fine English wool, illustrating the difference of appearance. 

The chemical composition of wool is as follows : 

Carbon 5°' 6 5 

Hydrogen 7'°3 

Nitrogen . . ^7~- . . . I77 1 

Oxygen and sulphur . . .. 24*61 



M. Chevreul, after analysing Merino wool heated to dryness 
above ioo°, found it to consist of 

Earthy matter left in water with which it was washed . . 26*06 

" Suint" or fat, soluble in cold water . . . . ' . 32*74 

Other kinds of feits 8*57 

Earthy matters collected with the fat . . . . 1 *4° 

Pure wool 3*' 2 3 



Sulphur is a very important element in the composition of wool, 
and some close statistical calculations made, show that in the 
United Kingdom as much as five millions of pounds of sulphur 
are annually abstracted from the soil by the sheep. It is evident, 
therefore, that in order to have healthy animals and a full produce 
of wool, there must be in the soil a good supply of sulphur, 
nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus, or the pasture, combined with 
atmospheric influences, will not enable the animal to secrete wool 
in perfection. 

Foreign Breeds of Sheep. — Attention to the cultivation of 
fine wool has long been paid in many countries, and has produced 
the highly valued Merino breed. It has been supposed that the 
female has more influence than the male on the bodily form of an 

c 



18 FOREIGN BREEDS— THE MERINO ES. 

animal ; but the male, in sheep particularly, has been found to 
give the peculiar character to the fleece. The produce of a breed 
from a coarse-woolled ewe and fine-woolled ram will yield a fleece 
differing only one-fourth from that of the sire. By proceeding in 
the opposite direction, the wool would rapidly degenerate into its 
primitive coarseness. Great care must therefore be taken to 
exclude from a breeding flock any accidental varieties of coarse- 
woolled rams. 

Immense services were rendered by the introduction ot the 
Spanish sheep into England,* and in former times the sheep of 
Northern Africa into Spain. This excellence of the Merino con- 
sists in the unexampled fineness and felting property of its wool, 
which in fineness and in the number of imbrications and curves 
exceeds that of any other sheep the world produces. 




SPANISH MERINO WOOL. 

The thorough bred Negretti sheep takes a high and important 
position among the Merino breed. It has a deep built barrel-like 
body, powerful short legs, and compactly grown wool on the body 
and legs. 

As wool is the principal object in Germany, the wethers are 
kept to ten and even thirteen years old, and they are then turned 
into inferior mutton. The sheep are housed in stables every 

* In Case 61 are samples of the early products of Merino wool and yarn in 
this country in 1812 and 1829. 



FOREIGN BREEDS— THE MERINOES. 19 

night, and carefully guarded in the daytime from the rain. Shear- 
ing takes place in May, and is done by women, who shear in a 
shearing house with strong scissors. Washing is very carefully 
attended to, and is done in cold or in hot water. In cold washing 
they are dipped two or three times, and then allowed to stand and 
sweat to soften the dirt. They are then rubbed with the hand 
•and passed through clean water. In hot washing they are first 
dipped two or three times in cold water to soften the dirt, then 
washed in a large tub in warm water with soap, and lastly, douched 
in cold water. 

The Merinoes are a highly cultivated variety. The true Merino 
as of a fair size, and derives its distinguishing characteristics 
from the head, horns, fleece, and general contour. The head is 
very handsome, and horned in both sexes. It is Roman ; short 
and broad across the poll or crown, and covered with wool over 
the ears and nose. The ears are short, and the horns, must 
be open and wide between, well turned and marked with fine 
transverse wrinkles. The nose is often pink, but is better dark. 
The neck is short but full, and gains much character from the 
heavy folds or wrinkles of skin which adorn both males and 
females. The shoulders are very broad over the tops, and some 
are apt to be high or pointed in the withers. The body is 
long, the ribs deep and well sprung ; the hind quarters apt to 
sink. The legs are short, and the hocks are sometimes narrow 
or cat-hammed. There are also folds of skin gathered together 
over the tail, giving the puckered appearance known as the 
-"rose." 

The Hungarian Merino wool ranges from one inch to one and a 
half inch in length, is of marvellous fineness, and mostly of rich 
orange colour, from the grease. The colour occurs in deep bands, 
which shade into a light yellow, and the samples have a rich 
candied appearance, as though they had been immersed in sugary 
syrup. 

The Saxon Merino sheep have been divided into Rambouillet, 

c 2 



20 



FOREIGN BREEDS OF SHEEP. 



Negretti, and Electoral, but crossing has produced many varieties, 
Saxon Merino rams clip from seven and a half to fifteen pounds, 
and ewes five and a half to six and three-quarter pounds of 
wool.* 

The Electoral Merino is well and strongly built : the head is of 
middle length and pretty broad, the neck short and fleshy, the 
shoulder and rump wide, back straight, and the body round ; the. 
feet are firmly placed and well set. The animals have thickly set 




RAMBOU1LLET-NEGRETTI RAM, POMERANIA. 



wool, and are remarkably well covered, especially upon the belly,, 
feet, and head. The wool is usually soft, of middle length, with 
mild and not too rich grease. 

The Zackel sheep are distributed over the mountainous regions 



* In a framed case, with 24 compartments (No. 10), will be found a good 
collection of Saxony wools, and another in No. 25. Case 52 contains i& 
samples of fine German wools, and No. 54 samples of fine French wools and 
rovings. Cases 53, 55, and 56 contain fine samples of Hungarian wools,, 
washed and in the grease, with locks mounted to show the staple. 



AFRICAN FAT-TAILED SHEEP. 21 

of Transylvania and Galicia. They represent the division of long- 
woolled sheep {Ovis strepiceros), are of various colours, and not 
fixed in their character even with regard to horns; some rams 
having long horns, while others, from Galicia, are hornless. They 
yield from six to eight and a half pounds of coarse unwashed 
wool. It is reckoned that each season the lamb brings four 
shillings, the wool four shillings, and about 'fifteen pounds of 
cheese gives four shillings more, making in all twelve shillings 
profit. 




AFRICAN FAT-TAILED SHEEP. 



There is a peculiar broad-tailed sheep met with in Asia Minor 
and Africa, which deserves to be incidentally noticed. In some 
parts of these countries, for example, in Cappadocia or Caramania, 
they have innumerable troops of sheep, which differ from those of 
Europe, by having a tail which is a mass of fat, and has often to 
be supported by a species of carriage. This variety has been 



22 FOREIGN BREEDS OF SHEEP. 

known from the time of Herodotus. From Constantinople to» 
Smyrna, and in all the adjacent districts, these sheep are eaten, 
and the tail is reckoned a peculiar delicacy. The wool, however,, 
is coarse. This sheep is less common in Egypt, but is found 
in many parts of South Africa, among the Dutch. In the East,, 
where pork is abhorred, this tail-fat is used, instead of lard and 
butter. 

The sheep of the Kokan territory in Central Asia are of this 
large description, with heavy tails, which weigh, according to Mr. 
Michel, from 20 to 40 lbs. ! They require little or no tending, are 
satisfied with the scantiest food, support thirst for a long time,. 
and follow without fatigue the trails of their wandering proprie- 
tors. Their flesh is the favourite food of rich and poor, their 
milk and the cheese made from it takes the place of bread with a 
large portion of the population, and their skins form the winter 
garments of the people. 

Our colonists in Australia and South Africa have proved the 
truth of the remark of an old writer on agriculture, Fitzherbert,. 
that "sheepe is the most profytablest cattell a man can have." 

Previous to the year 1833 the only sheep, with few exceptions^ 
found in South Africa, were the broad-tailed, coarse-woollecl 
animal. But in that year a few Merino sheep were brought over 
from Australia by a trading vessel, and were found much superior 
to the fat tails, and admirably suited to the country. Now the 
pure Merino, Cheviot, Escurial, and other esteemed breeds, are 
commonly to be seen in all parts of the South African colonies. 
The proportion of improved sheep to coarse-woolled in the Cape 
Colony in 1875 was as follows : 10,064,289 fine-woolled to> 
944,050 common or coarse-woolled. 

The Woollen Manufacture. — Wool is the second great 
textile industry of this country. There are more than a quarter of 
a million operatives engaged upon it in 2,500 factories ; while the 
total number of persons directly dependent upon the trade may 
be set down (including the factory hands) at fully 1,000,000, there 



24 



THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



being a larger number of dependent workers in auxiliary trades than 
in connection with any other British manufacture. 



We imported of Foreign Wool in 1874 
Of Alpaca and Mohair .... 
Woollen rags to be used as Wool. 
Woollen Yarn for Weaving 
Our home supply of Wool is estimated at 
The Skin Wool from imported sheep at . 

Making a total of 



lbs. 

338,800,481 
12,200,087 

57,361,920 
13,114,130 

160,000,000 
2,400,000 

583,876,618 



For the wool imported we paid more than ,£24,000,000 sterling. 
As we re-exported only 55,300,000 lbs. of wool and woollen 
yarn, nearly 530,000,000 lbs. of wool were worked up. It is 
estimated that we use at home three-fourths of the whole manu- 
factures ; therefore, as our exports of woollen and worsted manu- 
factures and yarn in 1874 were of the value of over ,£28,000,000, 
this would bring up the aggregate value of the woollen manufac. 
ture to over £"100,000,000, but even if we assume it at £ 7 5,000,000 
it shows the importance of this great industry. The consumption 
of woollen goods for personal wear cannot certainly be less than 
jQi per head of the population, exclusive of the many other uses 
for woollen fabrics. 

Value of the Exports of Wool and Woollens from the United 
Kingdom in Quinquennial Periods. 



Year. 


British Wool. 


Yarn. 


Woollen Manufactures. 




£ 


£ 


£ 


184O 


330,246 


452,957 


5,327,853 


1845 


556,339 


1,066,925 


7,693,117 


1850 


623,915 


1,451,642 


8,588,690 


1855 


986,523 


2,026,095 


7,718,374 


i860 


877,082 


3,578,088 


12,158,710 


1865 


901,660 


5,110,474 


20,141,415 


1870 


575,583 


4,994,249 


21,664,953 


1875* 

| 


928,264 


5,099,307 


19,406,336 



* The value of our exports of woollen manufactures and yam in 1875 was 
nearly ,£4,000,000 less than in 1874, owing to the dulness of trade generally. 



QUALITIES OF SHEEP'S WOOL. 25 

Sheep's Wool.— There are two broadly distinguished classes 
of wools that enter into commerce, fleece wools and skin wools. 
The first are obtained by the annual shearing of the sheep, the 
last are those cut or pulled from slaughtered animals, which, 
having been subjected to lime, are characterised by their harsh- 
ness, weakness, and incapacity of taking a good dye, especially 
if the animal has perished from any malignant disease. 

A knowledge of the qualities of wool is very essential to those 
engaged in the wool trade, which now forms an enormous busi- 
ness, nearly all concentrated in. London.* 

The fineness of wool is in direct relation to the thickness of 
the skin j the less thick the skin the finer is the wool which it 
secretes. But it is extremely difficult to obtain this product at 
the same time in large quantity, and also equally difficult in the 
Merino race of large size and great weight, to find the skin as fine 
as in smaller sheep. In increasing by an abundance of food the 
size of a given race, we increase at the same time the dimensions 
of the skin, as much as we thicken the surface. 

The several qualities of wool are estimated with consider- 
able accuracy by the cloth manufacturer, the wool sorter, and 
wool broker, who, by multiplied trials, have become experienced 



* The collection of raw wools in the Museum is very large and extensive in 
Its range. Attention may be specially drawn to the following among numerous 
•other samples : 

11. A series, in 330 bottles, of European, Asiatic, Australasian, African, 
and American wools, obtained from time to time at the various International 
Exhibitions, and from other sources. 

On the east wall — 

12 to 24. Thirteen frames of sheep's and goat's wool from North America. 

30. Samples of fine sheep's and Angora goat's wool from the Cape Colony. 

31. Frame with fine wools from South Australia, accompanied with photo- 
graphs of the sheep. 

Case 49. Samples of wool from Iceland and Madeira. 
Case 51. Eighteen samples of fine wool. 

Case 57. Illustrations of Smith's chemical process for cleansing burry, or foul 
wools. 



26 QUALITIES OF SHEEP'S WOOL. 

in discovering, by the touch, minute differences quite imperceptible 
to common observers, and not even appreciable under the 
microscope. 

The finest quality of wool is found upon the spine, from the 
neck to within six inches of the tail, including one-third of the 
breadth of the back or saddle. The second quality covers the 
flanks, and extends from the thighs to the shoulders. The third 
covers the neck and rump ; and the fourth lies upon the lower 
part of the neck and the breast down to the feet, also upon a 




wmmxmmm, 

DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF WOOL FOUND ON THE SHEEP. 

part of the shoulders and the thighs to the bottom of the hind 
quarters. This is the Spanish and German classification, and is 
shown by the figures on the sheep above. Case 48 in the Col- 
lection may also be consulted. 

A broad distinction is made in wools, which are divided by 
the trade into long or combing wools, applicable for stuffs and 
worsted goods, and short or clothing wools for cloth manufacture. 
The former are, however, again sub-divided into wools of from 



CLASSIFICATION OF SHEEP'S WOOL. 27 

four to seven inches in length, used for hosiery and some other 
purposes, and those above that length used principally for coarse 
worsted goods. Specimens of the spinning processes of worsted 
yarns are well worth notice, showing that 89,000 yards may be 
spun to the pound weight, which is a great effort for worsted 
yarn. 

In Germany the sheep are sorted and classed according to the 
fineness, length, and thick growth of the wool, and the following 
points are considered important : — 

Strength of Fibre. — This is indicated by the amount of grease- 
in the wool — plenty of grease indicating strength. This exists in 
three forms : soft or liquid, which again may be a rich yellow or 
white j middle fat, yellow and white ; and, lastly, brown stiff fat, 
yellow and white. Of these, the oily or liquid grease is considered 
best in Germany, while in Hungary the middle fat is more suitable 
to the climate. 

Fineness. — The wool should be equally fine over the whole 
body, but a coarser quality may be expected on the top of the 
shoulders and rump, and a weaker quality on the belly. It is 
with regard to fineness that the usual continental classification of 
Prima, Elector, Super, &c, is made. The finest samples of wool 
are usually not more than two finger-breadths in length ; but the 
length of wool varies from one to about four finger-breadths. The 
Prussian and French Rambouillet are longer woolled than the 
Hungarian Merino.* 

Curl. — This is important, and refers to the minute bends or 
crimps which are seen in each hair ; a long, straight, plain wave 
in the fibre, as in B. (illustration page 28), is not liked, neither is 
an abrupt close wave which folds back upon itself, as in C. The 
best and most approved curl, that which gives spring and elasticity,, 
as well as preserves the strength of the wool, may be described 
as a minute and regular serration, and is shown by the line 
marked A. " 

* Report upon the Vienna International Exhibition, 1873. 



28 QUALITIES OF SHEEP'S WOOL. 

Thickness. — This quality refers to the thickness of the wool 
upon the skin, and is closely connected with the presence of 
those wrinkles so characteristic of the Merino sheep. Large folds 
of skin appear about the neck, and just above the tail in the true 
Merino, and especially in the rams. Young lambs, however, show 
the same peculiarity; and while, the wool is short, similar but 
smaller wrinkles over the entire body. The whole skin is com- 
pletely furrowed with these wrinkles, and, consequently, the wool- 
bearing surface is rendered very large. It is considered in Austria 
a point of excellence when these wrinkles are numerous, but in 
Saxony a different taste prevails. The wool on the summit of 



CRIMPS OF THE FIBRE OF MERINO WOOL. 

folds seen about the neck is a little coarse, but as the area is small, 
this is not allowed to be a fault, only a character. A pure 
Merino sheep will carry from 40,000 to 48,000 wool fibres on a 
single square inch of skin. 

The closure of the stubble, or outer surface of the fleece, is 
very important, for, if the fleece is loose and open, dust and 
dirt find their way into the wool. The closure is effected by 
the abundance of the fat, which rises to the surface of the fleece, 
and then mats the ends of the wool-fibres together, forming 
■a compact protection to the fine wool beneath. This is further 



SKILFUL EXAMINATION OF WOOL. 29 

added to by dust, which adheres to the grease, and makes- 
that firm black limit to the fleece always observable in the 
Merino. The hand passes over the stubble as over a sort of 
scale armour, and when pressed the springiness of the wool is 
at once perceived. 

Opening a fleece for purposes of inspection is to be done with 




BLUMEN, OR FLOWER, IN MERINO FLEECE. 



knowledge, and indicates at once whether the operator is at home 
with his subject. Grasping the points of the fibres with both 
hands, the inspector parts the wool and discloses the beautiful- 
white or rich yellow, or orange-coloured wool below, and then 
closes up the fleece again without allowing any of the stubble- 
ends to find their way down into the clean wool. The accom- 
panying sketches illustrate the effect, which is very striking, when 



3 o APPEARANCE OF GOOD AND BAD WOOL. 

a fleece is opened, and also what is called the " Blumen " or 
flower (see p. 29), when the wool is made to open like a cup and 
•exhibit its rich yellow and white colouring right down to the skin, 
reminding the observer of a fine lily. 




SECTION OF STUBBLE. 




/ 




WELL CLOSED STUBBLE. 



W07 

/ // / 



BADLY CLOSED STUBBLE. 



A well closed stubble has the ends of the wool gathered into 
large masses, and has as few openings or crevices into the fleeces 
as possible. It is called a bad stubble when only a few fibres are 
caked together, giving the appearance of small dots instead of 
large bold blotches. 

Groivth. — The wool must be equally grown over the carcase. 
It must be equal in length on back and sides and belly. 



BRITISH CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL. 31 

The head must be woolled down to the nose and over the 
entire ears, and the legs must be clothed with wool down to 
the hoofs. Fine wrinkles on the horns are looked for in select- 
ing rams. 

On British sheep-runs there is some little difference in the 
classification, as the following remarks will show. The qualities 
•considered most valuable in regard to the fleece are fineness, 
fulness, freeness, soundness, length, and softness. 

1. Fineness of the fibre of the wool can be judged of by 
practice, when a lock of it is laid on the cuff of a coat of a dark 
colour. A deficiency in this quality will show itself by an abrupt 
falling off in fineness, either in the neck or breech of the animal, or 
in both. The difference in fineness between these parts and the 
rest of the fleece should be so gradual as to be almost imper- 
ceptible. No hair must be anywhere visible on the animal, 
especially under the forelegs. 

2. Fulness means the closeness with which the staples or locks 
of wool grow together on the skin. Upon opening the wool of a 
sheep possessing this quality in perfection, only a thin line of 
skin, as fine as a pencil stroke, will appear round each staple, but 
if deficient, a space almost bare. Some of the German sheep, as 
shown in the illustration of the Negretti Merino ram (p. 32), have 
great rolls or puckers of skin under their necks or on other parts, 
which give them a singular appearance, but the extent of wool- 
bearing surface is thereby increased. 

3. Freeness means that the separate fibres of each staple are 
distinct, and by no means entangled together, or what is called 
" smushy," like cotton wool. A deficiency in this quality shows 
itself most plainly along the ridge of the back. In a well-bred 
sheep the wool on being opened should fall apart under the hands 
as clear and broken as the leaves of a book. 

4. Soundness or strength of fibre. Along the ridge of the back 
there is a sort of division between the wool of each side. Tender- 
ness, that is, deficiency in soundness, invariably shows itself there. 



32 BRITISH CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL. 

Take out a staple from this part, and give it a strong steady pull,, 
holding one end in each hand. If this proves sound, depend 
upon it that the whole fleece is so too. This is an indispensable 
quality in a combing wool, as there should be an absence of 
breaches or withered portions. 

5. Length of fibre must be carefully regulated by the nature of 
the pasture and climate ; for any the least excess, will cause a 




NEGRETTI MERINO RAM. 



proportionate deficiency in soundness, by which the wool will be 
depreciated for clothing, and rendered useless for combing. To 
judge of the length of the staple in a fleece, the best part to 
examine is the division along the ridge of the back, as it is there 
usually somewhat shorter than in other parts. 

6. Softness sufficiently explains itself. A want of this quality is 
most conspicuous between the points of the shoulders and up the 
neck. Harsh wiry wool is more brittle, and suffers greater injury 
than soft wool in the various operations. 

The way then to judge wool on a sheep's back, if it is really a 



BRITISH CIASSIFICATION 01 WOOL 33 

fine wool, is, first to examine the shoulders as the part where the 
finest and best wool is usually found. This we take as the 
standard, and compare it with the wool from the rib, the thigh, the 
rump, and the shoulder parts, and the nearer the wool from the 
various portions of the animal approaches the standard, the 
better. 

First, we scrutinise the fineness, and if the result is satisfactory, 
we pronounce the fleece in respect to fineness very " even." Next, 
we inquire into the length of the staple, and if we find that the 
wool on the ribs and back approximates reasonably in length to 
that of our standard, we again declare the sheep, as regards 
length of staple, true and even. We next desire to satisfy our- 
selves of the density of the fleece, and we do this by closing the 
hand upon a portion of the rump and of the loin wool — the fleece 
at these points being usually the thinnest and most faulty — and 
if this again gives satisfaction, we signify the fact by designating 
the wool " even " as respects density. 

Now to summarise these separate examinations : If you find 
the fleece of nearly equal fineness from the shoulder to the thigh, 
of nearly equal length on shoulder, rib, thigh, and back, and of like 
density on shoulder and across the loins, you may conclude that 
you have a perfect sheep for producing valuable wool. A com- 
parison of these two lists of desiderata, British and Continental, 
will enable a fair judgment to be formed of the quality of wool. 

In the examination of wool the following points have also to be 
considered : the degree of imbrication of the surface as shown by 
the microscope ; the quantity of fibre developed in a given space 
of fleece ; the freedom of the fleece from burrs and other foreign 
matters ; the skill and care employed in the scouring and other 
processes of preparation. 

"Kempy" wool is objectionable, and the term means the pre- 
sence of short white hairs at the roots of the staple, which 
never take the dye, and disfigure all goods into which they are 
introduced. The hairy East Indian wool that is usually grown 

D 



34 KEMPY OR HAIRY WOOLS. 

near the tropics, has a tendency to be burry and scurfy, with a 
slight mixture of grey hairs. 




EA&T liNDIAN WOOL. 

There is, perhaps, no defect which renders wool, and otherwise 
good wool too, so absolutely useless for manufacturing, and 
especially for combing purposes, as tenderness and breechiness. 
This fault, which causes the staple to be tender, arises from the 
destructive effects of drought, cold, or other climatic causes, which 
check the growth of the grasses and deprive the sheep of their 
necessary regular supply of food. But nothing is so sure to cause 
a break in wool, and in many sheep a perfect stripping or shedding 
of the entire fleece, as want of water. 

It is not only important that wools should be free from the 
defects above described, but it is desirable that the whole of the 
various parts of the fleece should have, as nearly as possible, a 
uniformity of character, that is, as regards fineness, length of 
staple, density, and softness. 

The illustration on the opposite page represents the different 
characters of the wools chiefly utilised : No. i being Cape sheep's 
wool, No. 2 Spanish Merino, No. 3 Southdown, No. 4 Camel's 
hair, No. 5 Mohair, or fine goat's wool, No. 6 Alpaca, No. 7 
Llama, No. 8 that of the Yak. 

In sorting wool for market, the fleeces should not be broken, 
but merely divested of the breech and stained locks, and assorted 



VARIETIES OF WOOL. 



35 



or arranged so that each bale or package may contain fleeces of 
the same character as to colour, length of staple, fineness of wool, 
and general quality. 




VARIETIES OF WOOL AS SEEN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 



The wool from different parts of the same fleece is of various 
qualities, yet so sensitive by use do the fingers of the expe- 
rienced stapler become, that it is with surprising rapidity he sepa- 
rates the masses before him into ten, twelve, or more kinds, taking 
due cognisance of the strength, cleanliness, regularity, colour, and 
softness of each. The fleece is sorted into combing and clothing 
wools, and broken fleece, or " pieces and locks." 

In dividing and stapling, the fleece is spread by the fellmonger 
and laid on the sorting board, sheared side down. To the un- 
accustomed eye it looks a fleece of wool, all of one colour and 
quality, but to the sorter the different qualities are widely distinct. 
He breaks the skirts for one sort, the flank for another, the middle 
of the back and fore shoulders for another; and when the sheep 

d 2 



36 



TECHNICAL NAMES OF WOOL, 



has been crossed too broadly between coarse and fine, takes out 
the coarse piece which remains on the upper part of the neck, 
running up between the ears. 

The classification terms and names for these several kinds of 
wool vary in different localities. 

The following are the Yorkshire terms for " clothing " sorts, the 
first four being the choicest. 



1. Finest picklocks. 

2. Prime and pick. 

3. Choice. 

4. Super. 

5. Headwool. 

6. Downrights. 

7. Seconds, from the throat and 

breast. 



8. Abb, or an inferior sort. 

9. Long livery, coarse belly 

wool. 

10. Livery. 

11. Grey. 

12. Short coarse, from the 

breech. 



The classification of the woolstapler is, to a certain extent, 
founded upon the difference of quality of wool arising from the 
parts of the body whence it is obtained ; for example, that 
on the sides of the neck and shoulders, the ribs and back, is, as 
has been already stated, the finest part of the fleece ; and next to 
this comes that which covers the thighs. But difference of race 
has also to do with the classification, for the wool on the breast 
of one sheep may be equal to that on the back of another ; hence 
it is often not so much the object to separate the wools of the 
different parts of the body, as to put all the wool which may be 
adapted for one particular purpose by itself. A good fleece would 
generally come under the first four divisions, although portions 
might even belong to the sixth or seventh. 

The deep "combing" sorts of wool are thus classed : 



Long coarse. 
Say cast. 
Lusty. 
Long Neate. 



Long Drawing. 
Fine Drawing. 
Country Long Drawing. 
Country Fine Drawing. 



The following is the subdivision of a Southdown " tegg " fleece 



SHEEP SHEARING. 37 

(that is the first shearing) weighing 6 lb. 12 oz., separated into 
eight qualities. 

1. Super wool, I oz. ; used for flannels, blankets, hats, tweeds, and coarse 

cloths. 

2. Livery wool, I oz. ; for low cloths, as prison, army, navy, and workhouse 

cloths. 

3. Grey wool, i\ oz. ; used for the same purposes, and hat making. 

4. Prime white wool, 5f oz. ; used for cloth of all kinds, the best blankets, 

flannels, tweeds, shawls, Cobourgs, &c. 

5. Choice wool, 2 oz. ; used for flannels, cloths, blankets, tweeds, and 

shawls. 

6. Pick tegg wool, I lb. 7 oz. ; used for tweeds, shawls, and blankets. 

7. Super tegg, 6\ oz. ; for fringe and hosiery, yarns, and coach lace. 

8. Long wool, 3 lb. 8 oz. ; used in yarns, fringes, shawls, blankets, &c. 

The skin wools, or those from the slaughter-houses, have other 
curious terms, as lusty, kindly, ordinary, broad head, pick-lock 
head. 

The wool of the lamb is generally softer than that of the sheep 
from the same flock, and as it has the felting quality in a high 
degree, is much used in the hat manufacture for the foundation 
or conical cap. The wool of lambs that have died a natural 
death possesses less of this felting property, and is employed for 
flannels and lambs'-wool hosiery. Young sheep's wool, and all 
long-grown staple wools, are bought by those who comb them 
for bombazines, camlets, etc. The short-stapled and weak-grown 
old sheep's wool can only be used by manufacturers of broad- 
cloths and fancy goods. 

The great thing for promoting the growth of good sound wool is 
regular and generous feeding of the sheep, which insures a good 
supply of yolk, without which the wool would not possess elas- 
ticity, strength, softness, etc. 

Sheep Shearing. — In our pastoral colonies, and in countries 
where large flocks of sheep are kept, the task of shearing is an 
important one. For instance, in the single colony of New South 
Wales, it was stated that in 1875, 25,000,000 sheep had to be 
sheared, yielding approximatively 125,000,000 lbs. of wool, and 



3S WOOL WASHING. 

valuing this at is. per lb., it would amount to six and a quarter mil- 
lions of pounds sterling. The cost of shearing this vast lot of sheep 
at 20s. per hundred — about the average price — would be ^250,000, 
and that of transmitting the wool to the seaport for exportation 
may be set down at about the same figure. Without going into 
more minute details, if we estimate the value of the wool clip of 
New South Wales for 1876 at six and a quarter millions sterling, 
and assign 25 per cent, of that amount as expenses incurred 
by the wool-grower from the time the sheep enters the wool shed 
to be shorn (this is the estimated cost in the working of a wool 
station) until the net proceeds are in the wool-grower's bank, there 
will be disbursed ^1,562,500. That sum would go in shearing, 
carriage to seaport and to London, commission, brokerage, &c. 
Every year Australian wool is increasing in quantity and rising in 
quality, so that at the close of 1880, New South Wales ought to 
have at least 30,000,000 of sheep, which, with horned cattle and 
horses, would approximately represent in money value upwards of 
^50,000,000 sterling. 

Wool Washing. — Wool is sent to market in two forms, either 
in the grease or scoured ; some manufacturers prefer to buy the 
former kind and wash or scour it themselves. 

The great object to be obtained in washing wool is not only to 
make it white, but to render it bright. After washing the sheep 
with soft soap and warm water, avoiding all alkalies, which destroy 
the fibre (make it harsh and dry, "work unkindly," as the manu- 
facturers term it), the fleece when squeezed by the hand should 
puff out again, not feeling sticky, and should glisten in the sun 
with a peculiar brilliancy • if too little yolk, or natural grease, is 
left in the wool, it will be wanting in softness ; if too much, it will 
become sticky, and after a time turn yellow. The desirableness 
of this brilliancy in the wool is, that French manufacturers of 
merinoes, de laines, and other light textile fabrics, will give ex- 
treme prices for it, for only this bright wool will take delicate dyes. 

Machinery is now applied for washing fleece and skin wool. 



4o SHEEP WASHING. 

The ordinary process of washing wool is pretty familiar to most 
persons interested in that branch of industry, but the introduction 
of simple and effective mechanical appliances has thrown the 
former primitive method into the background. 

The centrifugal pump of Messrs. Easton and Anderson (p. 41) 
is now much used in the Australian colonies for spout washing. 

The apparatus is extremely simple, and consists of an iron tank 
mounted on a framing about eight feet from the ground, kept 
supplied with clean water by a centrifugal pump, driven by a 
portable engine. The tank is fitted with mouth-pieces, which are 
under control, and supply a torrent of water as required. 

Another tank of wood, or any convenient material, about three 
feet deep, built in the ground, partly filled with water, is the 
" soaking " tank. The water in this tank is kept at about 69 deg, 
of temperature, and this is regulated by a steam pipe from the 
portable engine. The plan of proceeding is as follows : 

The sheep are placed in the soaking tank and rubbed over. 
The warm water softens all the dirt in the wool. The sheep are 
then handled under one of the " torrents " from the upper tank, 
and the loose dirt is effectually washed away. 

So speedy is the process that three sheep may be washed in 
two minutes, and so effectually that the value of the wool in the 
London market is very much increased. The waste in the soak- 
ing tank is about one gallon for each sheep. 

It should be observed that the cost of the apparatus is the only 
outlay, no expensive material being used in the washing. 

By a new chemical process, the sheep-skins in the tanyards are 
now stripped of their wool in an astonishingly rapid and effective 
manner, and the whole process, from the introduction of the raw 
skin into the place, to the dispatch of the well pressed bale, is 
interesting, from the clean, regular system in force. 

A most ingenious pulling machine has been invented for clear- 
ing the wool off the skins. It is composed of a large revolving 
drum, driven by a belt, the motive power being steam. The 



f 



1 ii 

V;| ! 

J Jill 







42 FELTING PROPERTY OF WOOL. 

drum takes two skins at a time, and presses them under a nicely 
adjusted knife, which does its work most efficiently at the rate of 
300 per day, or as much as six men could do in the same time. 
Moreover, the pelt is in no way damaged, and the appliance 
requires only the attention of two boys, who can stop the move- 
ment in an instant. 

Wool and hair can be felted, that is, made into a dense and 
compact cloth, without the intervention of the processes of 
spinning or weaving. So great is this tendency that in a flock 
bed the carded wool, of which it is made, is constantly felting 
itself into lumps, and from time to time the bed requires to be 
taken to pieces, that the wool may be carded afresh. This 
felting property of wool and certain kinds of hairs, is caused by 
the peculiarity in the structure already mentioned ; the filaments 
are notched or jagged at the edges, the teeth or imbrications 
invariably pointing upward, that is from the root to the point, so 
that the fibres, when subjected to gentle friction, move in one 
direction only, and consequently mat together and form the kind 
of cloth called felt. This felting property of wool is greatly 
assisted by the peculiar crimp in the fibre, which it retains with 
great pertinacity, so that if drawn out straight it immediately con- 
tracts again on being released; thus the forward motion of the fibre 
under friction is partly counteracted or converted into a circular 
or zigzag movement, which is precisely that which most com- 
pletely effects the matting together of the various fibres. 

Wool in the yolk, that is with the natural grease adhering to it, 
cannot be felted, the roughness of the fibre being in that case 
smoothed over by the oil ; were it otherwise the wool would felt 
on the sheep's back and be comparatively useless. 

For manufacturing, it is necessary to remove all the animal oil 
in order that the wool may take colour in dyeing; whilst a Cotswold 
fleece will lose in scouring but 18 or 20 per cent, some Merinoes 
will shrink 70 per cent. One great reason why the English and 
German woollen manufacturers beat the Americans in the bright- 



GREASE IN WOOL. 43 

ness of colour and beauty of finish of their goods is, because they 
use more washed wool and less of the greasy wool. 

The fleece of the Merino is so compact on the animal that the 
grease or yolk does not escape, but is condensed in the wool and 
produces a gum which is impervious to moisture, and while it 
protects the carcase from rain, its compactness causes all the 
more perspiration, which is produced at the expense of the food 
consumed. 

The quantity of suint or yolk varies in different wools according 
to their fineness, in about the following ratio per cent. : — 

Fine Saxon Electoral wool 80 

French fine wools of Brie . . . . .. 60 to 75 

Merino wool 66 

Common wools, rarely less than ..... 20 



CHAPTER II. 

Treats of the several uses of Sheep skins, describes the woollen, worsted, 
shoddy, carpet, felt, and other British manufactures of wool, and 
gives the latest official statistics ; proceeds on to the Goat tribe, 
from which we obtam skins, the materials for the principal glove 
manufacture, mohair, Cashmere shawls, and other useful pro- 
ducts j and then follows 071 with details of the Alpaca, Llama, and 
Camel, and their various uses to Man, for their hair, flesh, and as 
beasts of burden; with full statistical information relating to the 
a?iimals, and their manufactured products. 

Sheep-skins. — There is an extensive use of sheep and lamb- 
skins for different purposes. About 17,000,000 are obtained 
annually from home-slaughtered animals, and 10,000,000 more 
imported from abroad. They are usually split into two portions, 
known respectively as " skivers " and " fleshes," the former being 
the grain side ; the unsplit skins are termed " roans." * 

Sheep-skins form a large item in the commerce of the Cape Colony. 
The shipments there now reach about 1,500,000 skins annually. 
It is chiefly, however, the indigenous or half-bred sheep that 
are killed, the Merinoes being more valuable to keep for their 
wool. 

The manufacturers of boots and shoes consume large quantities 
of sheep-skins for linings, toppings, etc. Roans are also finished to 

* In frames hung on the raised divisional partitions will be found a series 
of samples, furnished by Messrs. Bevington and Sons, of some of the uses of 
sheep skins tanned, for coloured roans, furniture morocco, hard and cross- 
grained morocco, hand-grained skivers, hatters' skivers, coloured calf, grained 
sheep, hard and cross-grained sheep, glazed sheep, cross-grained sheep, cross- 
grained and glazed sheep. The whole process of preparing and tanning 
sheep skins is also shown in a series of large photographs of the various 
departments in the Bermondsey tannery of that firm. 



SHEEP SKINS. 45 

imitate goat-skin morocco to a considerable extent. Bookbinders 
use very much imitation morocco made from skivers, and so closely 
does this resemble the real article that, when on the book, it takes 
a good judge to detect the difference ; " fleshes " are employed 
in the manufacture of blank books, and for other purposes, where 
strength rather than superior finish is desirable. Sheepskins are 
also used by trunk and bag makers, saddlers, pocket-book manu- 
facturers, jewel-case makers, hatters, organ and other musical 
instrument makers, upholsterers, glovers, suspender manufac- 
turers, druggists and perfumers, etc. In England quantities of 
fleshes are manufactured and sold as "chamois skins." The glove 
manufacturers are also large consumers of fleshes, having them 
dressed in oil and finished to imitate buck or deerskins. 

Sheep-skin mats are prepared by stretching the fresh skin, well 
furnished with a coat of wool, with the wool side down, by means 
of tacks at the edges, and then rubbing the skin over with a pow- 
dered mixture of equal parts of common salt and alum — repeating 
the operation twice afterwards on the two following days. It 
should remain exposed to the air, but not to the sun, till well 
dried. When skins are "tawed" with the wool on, as for mats 
and rugs, they are doubled with their wool side inward, so as to 
expose only the flesh side to the alum mixture. 

"Slink" lamb-skins are called in Persia Karpak. They are 
greatly prized, and fetch as much as seven pounds for ten or a 
dozen skins. These skins are obtained by causing the ewes to 
bring forth prematurely, which is managed as follows : The ewes, 
when within a month of lambing, are driven out two miles or so 
on a cold night, and are brought back suddenly into a very warm 
stable. The violent change of temperature causes the ewes to 
bring forth, and the skins of the lambs thus born are those which 
are so highly prized. A hat made from these skins will sell for 
nearly £>\o, and in such a hat only the prime parts of the 
choicest skins will be used. 

In some northern countries the ewe is killed purposely to 



46 THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 

obtain this fine skin wool from the unborn lamb, in order to be 
made into glove linings and for saddle covers, &c. 

The Russian, Astracan, Hungarian, and Spanish lamb skins 
are remarkably fine.* The grey and black Russian lamb-skins are 
mostly used for cloak and coat linings, collars, caps, &c. The 
Astracan lamb has a rich, glossy, black skin, with short fur, having 
the appearance of watered silk. The Astracan lamb-skins used 
to be much in demand in China, as many as 1,750,000 having 
been shipped via Kiachta in some years ; now scarcely 100,000 
are sent yearly. The Hungarian lamb-skin is used in that 
country in immense numbers ; of it is made the national coat. 
In summer the woolly part is worn outside, in winter inside. 
They are often highly decorated. The Spanish lambs furnish 
the well-known short jackets of the country. 

Woollen Manufacture. — The Woollen Manufacture begins 
with the stapler, who buys the wool of the farmer or wool-broker, 
and ends with the merchant. It is divided into three principal 
processes, which are again subdivided. t 

First there is what is called the Manufacturer ; 

Secondly, the Finisher; and 

Thirdly, the Rag Grinder. 

The first manufactures the raw material into cloth. 

The second finishes it, and gives it its appearance as it is ordi- 
narily worn. 

The third takes the manufacture of the two former processes, 
when thrown aside by the wearer, cuts it into patches, which he 
forcibly tears asunder into woolly fibres, and then remodels this 
again into the raw material known as shoddy, to be once more 
used by the manufacturer. 

And of so much consequence is this last process to the trader, 

* Samples of these will be found in Case 97. 

+ The whole stages of progress of the woollen manufacture, the various kinds 
of woollen goods, and the shoddies, are all shown in the Animal Products 
Collection cf the Bethnal Green Museum. 



SHODDY WOOL. 47 

that there are machines in Yorkshire capable in full work of pro- 
ducing 50,000,000 lbs. of raw material per annum, or (upon the 
average of 61bs. to the fleece) of adding to the annual stock of wool 
the fleeces of more than 8,000,000 sheep. Besides tearing up the 
old worn garments at home, we also import annually 57,000,000 lbs. 
of foreign woollen rags to be thus torn up and reworked. 

The object of the shoddy manufacture is to supply cheap and 
economical clothing to all, especially to the working and poorer 
classes. This is effected by utilising materials which previously 
were considered almost valueless. Shoddy cloth is generally used 
for winter wear. The raw material employed in its production is 
shoddy or mungo, in combination with wool, noils, or waste. 
Rarely is any cloth made of shoddy alone. The chief seat of this 
important and flourishing business is Batley. It is also extensively 
carried on at Dewsbury, and prevails in the district generally. 
Shoddy is " rag wool," or wool produced from rags. The rags are 
ground or torn up into " wool " or " flock " by a cylinder set with 
sharp iron teeth, and revolving at a rapid rate. Shoddy is the 
produce of what are termed "soft rags," such as cast-off woollen 
stockings, flannels, shawls, carpets, stuffs, &c. ; mungo, that of 
cloth of a finer texture, such as dress coats, tailors' clippings, &c. 
These are ground up in the same way as the old stockings and 
flannels, but they require a finer set cylinder and a little different 
treatment. The rags are obtained from everywhere, being col- 
lected by bagmen, marine store dealers, &c, and thus heaps are ' 
accumulated. The leading provincial towns furnish considerable 
quantities, but London is the great depot. Rags are received, too, 
from foreign parts, especially from the Continent. A very large 
quantity was formerly imported from Germany ; but they are now 
mostly ground up there, reaching this country in the form of 
shoddy and mungo. Shoddy varies largely in value ; some 
varieties are sold at under id. per lb., others at gd. or lod. 
per lb., according to colour, quantity, and staple. Mungo varies 
still more, namely, from id. or 1 \d. per lb. to 2od. and upwards. 



48 DIVISIONS OF THE WOOLLEN TRADE. 

The average price of shoddy is probably about \d. per lb. ; that 
of mungo about 6d. The sheep's wool required in the manufacture 
differs greatly in price ; ranging from shearlings at ^d. and coarse 
Scotch at 6d. per lb., to fine Australian at 2s. 6d. and upwards. 
Noils and waste are obtained principally from Bradford, where 
spinning and power-loom waste are produced in considerable 
quantities, and though a refuse in the Bradford trade, serves a 
useful purpose in the shoddy manufactures. The price of shoddy 
cloths vary in price according to weight and width, from is. to 12s. 
per yard. There is a collection of shoddy and mungo ranged in 
102 bottles near the wools, and they are also shown with the cloth 
made from them in the Waste Products Collection. 

Another use for waste wool is to grind up very fine, and, when 
dyed of various brilliant colours, it is sifted or powdered over 
fresh-varnished paper-hangings, to which it adheres, forming the 
elegant velvet or flock papers imitating figured tapestries and 
stuffs. A collection of bottles of these "flocks" is placed on 
shelves near the shoddies on the south side of the gallery. 

Three great divisions of the trade are commonly recognised — 
the manufacture of Woollen cloth, of Worsted or stuff fabrics, and 
of Hosiery. The chief districts in which they are carried on are as 
follows : — Woollen cloth in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, 
and Wilts ; stuffs or worsted at Bradford, Halifax, York, Leeds, 
Worcester, and Norfolk ; hosiery in Leicestershire ; woollen yarn 
in Lancashire, Derby, and Yorkshire. Besides which carpets are 
made at Kidderminster, Wilton, and Axminster, and tweeds, 
plaids, and woollen shawls in Scotland.* 

* In Cases 50, 58, 59, and 60 will be found an instructive series of samples, 
showing the several stages of preparation from the raw material to the yarn 
dyed and undyed, and the finished cloth. In Cases 62 to 67 are samples of 
broad cloth, livery, and other woollen fabrics, and the various fancy woollen 
goods made in different foreign countries. Case 75 is devoted to flannels, 
machine blankets, and roller cloths, which are exported to the value of about 
;£ 1, 500,000. Case 47 shows the wool sorted into classes for this purpose. 
Case 77 contains raggings, coverlets, and wrappers, which we ship to the 



THE WORSTED AND CARPET MANUFACTURES. 49 

Worsted Manufacture. — The term " Worsted Stuffs " is 
applied to those manufactures into the composition of which 
wool enters that has undergone the processes of combing, and 
includes those fabrics in which cotton and silk are combined with 
combed wool. The name " Worsted " is derived from a village 
in Norfolk where these goods were first produced. These fabrics 
are carefully to be distinguished from woollen cloths, the chief 
characteristic being, that they undergo the well-known process of 
" felting " or " fulling." Though for some centuries the worsted 
manufacture had its chief seat in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, it has 
now obtained a remarkable concentration in the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, the town of Bradford being the principal centre. 

The latest official returns give 630 factories engaged on the 
worsted trade in the kingdom. These employ 111,000 opera- 
tives, and have 2,160,000 spindles and 65,000 power looms. 

Of the total yearly value of the worsted manufactures produced 
it is impossible to form anything more than an approximate 
estimate. The export of worsted goods, mixed and unmixed, has 
in some late years reached a value of nearly ^2 1,000,000, and the. 
exports may be roughly taken at from one-half to three-fourths 
of the whole production. When we compare the value of the 
exports of worsted stuffs in 1855, the sum being then under 
^4,000,000, the enormous advance made in the worsted industry 
of the country is evident. 

Carpet Manufacture. — Another branch of the woollen trade 

value of ^250,000. Case 68, mixed tweeds and ribbed cloths, and Case 76, 
Scotch Tartans. Case 80, woollen mantillas, sashes, scarfs, &c, made in Spain. 
Case 91, fine woollen and mixed fabrics for ladies' dresses. Case 81 contains 
Barege and other woollen shawls, made for the Great Exhibition of 185 1, 
which are characterised by their elegance of design, variety of patterns, and 
excellence of manufacture, for which the town of Paisley is noted. Case 82 
contains white and grey woollen yarn, and specimens of under-clothing and 
hosiery. Case 79, illustrations of the process of combing wool and yarn of 
different degrees of fineness. Case 81, a lady's boa made of fleecy wool from 
Thanet. No. 69 is a large embroidery picture representing the Lord's Supper, 
showing the use of Berlin wool. 

E 



50 THE GOAT TRIBE. 

may be studied, that of carpets, of which there are numerous 
illustrations of the stages of progress and the varieties of fabrics 
in Cases 71, 72, and 73. The more general use of carpets at 
home and abroad has given a great impetus to the carpet trade ; 
the demand both for home use and export having greatly increased. 
Twenty years ago we only exported carpets of the value of less 
than ^500,000, now the shipments of carpets reach a value of 
;£ 1,500,000, and those used at home must be fully double tha t 
value or more. The long combed wool is principally used for 
Brussels and the finer kinds of carpeting; while carded wool 
is employed for Scotch, Kidderminster, or common carpets. 
Brussels carpeting has for its basis a warp and woof of strong 
linen thread. Tapestry and other common carpets have a back- 
ing of yarn made of cotton waste. 

There are several other varieties of carpets made ; Kidderminster 
is the chief seat of the manufacture, but Halifax, Durham, with 
Kilmarnock, Dundee, and other towns in Scotland now compete. 

Druggets or felt and jute carpets have become an important 
item in the trade. 

The manufacture of carpets is now principally effected by 
means of machinery : hand-loom Jacquard weaving having been 
almost entirely superseded by steam-power weaving. 

Leaving now the consideration of the Sheep, we pass on to notice 
some other wool-bearing animals and their commercial products. 

THE GOAT TRIBE. 

Angora Goats. — An important wool-bearing animal of com- 
merce is the Asiatic goat, which, unlike the common goat, has a 
long and silky white fleece, that is in great demand both locally 
and for export, and passes here under the name of " Mohair." 

Twenty years ago there was a fine flock of 200 Angora goats 
in Spain, kept in the mountains of the Escurial, belonging to the 
State, and there are now many hundreds owned by private indi- 
viduals there. 



MOHAIR, OR GOATS' WOOL. 



5i 



When some bales of this goat's wool were first shipped to 
England from Turkey in 1820, the article was so little appre- 
ciated that it brought only tenpence per pound, but the demand 
has been annually increasing, and it now fetches 3s. 6d. per pound. 
Our yearly imports of goat's wool average 7,000,000 pounds, of 
the value of about ^£i, 000,000.* 

Its chief value depends on the length and fineness of the 
staple, its bright and silky appearance, and its softness. It is 
extensively spun into yarns in Yorkshire, and the finer sorts are 
used in great quantities at Lyons in the manufacture of lace, and 
in the German States for dress goods and shawls. 











MOHAIR, OR GOAT S WOOL. 

The Cashmere, Persian, Angora, and Circassian goats are one 
and the same animal, changed in some respects by altitude, 
though but little by latitude. They abound in the inaccessible 
regions of those countries, and are the flesh, milk, cheese and 
butter-yielding and wool-furnishing animal of the whole country. 
They are finely developed for the table, much disposed to fatten, 
with very white and beautiful long fine wool or curly hair, the 
fleece weighing, in different districts, from two to three and a half 
pounds. The larger Kurdish goat with black wool has a more 
extensive range than the white goat, which is better known by the 
name of the town which is the centre of its range — Angora. 

* Cases 89 and 90 contain samples of Cashmere and Angora wool, and other 
kinds of goats' hair ; and Cases 88, 91, 92, and 93, fabrics made of it. 



52 ANGORA GOATS. 

The Angora goat, although originally confined to a limited 
district, has now been transported to and reared successfully in 
many other countries. The fleece is locally called "tiftek." After 
the goats have completed their second year, they are clipped 
annually in April or May, and yield progressively until they attain 
full growth, from one to three pounds. The process is perfectly 
simple, the fleece being of pretty uniform quality, and, unlike the 
Thibet or Cashmere goats, which have a downy covering on the 
pelt, with long coarse hairs at the top, the separation of which is 
both tedious and expensive, the Angora goat's wool is packed 
and shipped as it comes from the animal. 

A serious drawback to the development of the trade in goats' 
hair is the determined dishonesty of the native graziers and 
dealers, who persist in drenching the fleeces with water, and mix- 
ing in all sorts of rubbish in order to increase the weight, and so- 
realize an extra profit, although by so doing they destroy the lustre 
of the hair, which is its principal recommendation to spinners, 
as it enables them to use it as a substitute for silk. The English 
agents in Angora have made repeated efforts to have the practice 
forbidden, and have even induced the Central Government to 
interfere to prohibit it, but the active opposition or passive 
resistance of the local authorities have hitherto frustrated their 
wishes. 

The Kirghiz of Kokan keep large flocks of goats, which in cha- 
racter are not unlike those of Thibet, with reddish grey hair of 
great length, under which is a beautiful white hair of the finest 
description, from which the inhabitants of Urutupa manufac- 
ture shawls and scarfs as fine and as highly prized as those of 
Cashmere. 

Fine goats' hair is produced in the Kirghiz steppes, and sells in 
Khiva and Bokhara at 28^. the cwt. Thirty years ago about 80 
tons of goats' down, and about half that quantity of goats' hair, used 
to be annually shipped from Russia. Now only about 12 tons of 
it are imported annually across the Orenburg frontier. Russia 



STATISTICS OF ANGORA GOATS. 



53 



exports the great mass to Europe; but a portion of it is manu- 
factured in Eastern Russia into socks, gloves, girdles, and shawls 
of great variety and surprising brightness. 

The Angora goat is now successfully reared in South Africa, 

South Australia, Victoria, and other of the Australian colonies. 

There are nearly 1,000,000 in the Cape Colony, where they 




ANGORA GOATS. 



were only introduced about ten or twelve years ago. As early as 
1848 they were imported into South Carolina, and have since 
spread over many of the States of the Union, the original stock 
being surpassed in beauty and amount of hair or wool produced, 
which is partly due to the extreme care taken in breeding, and 
partly to the colder winters on the North American Continent, 
which tends to increase the woolly covering of quadrupeds. 



54 THE SHAWL-WOOL GOAT. 

Since 1870 a large number of pure bloods have been imported 
into California, and they are now quite common throughout the 
States and territories of the Pacific, where their number is esti- 
mated at about two millions, and it is doubling every year. They 
thrive much better in the Pacific States than in the Northern and 
Southern States. These animals are very prolific, and if well kept 
have kids when only one year old. It is also said that the flesh 
of the Angora goat is far superior to that of the common goat, 
and even better than mutton, veal, or venison, according to the 
testimony of some who have lived on it in California. 

The southern slopes of the Himalaya Mountains afford the most 
congenial locality for the famous shawl- wool goat. The northern 
face of these mountains is as remarkable for its dryness as the 
southern is for its moisture ; the cold is excessive, and the 
animals which are pastured there are covered with shaggy hair, or 
with long wool and a fine down. Few are aware of the tedious 
protracted labour attending the manufacture of a fine Cashmere 
shawl. When the hairs have been separated, the residue is care- 
fully washed in rice-water and hand-spun by women, who do not 
earn more than equal to about half-a-crown per month. There 
necessarily is, in the manufacture of these shawls, a great division 
of labour. One artizan designs the pattern, another determines 
the quantity and quality of the thread required, while a third 
arranges the warp and woof. Three weavers are usually employed 
on a shawl, of only an ordinary pattern, for three months; but a 
pair of rich ones not unfrequently occupies a shop, or a family, 
for a year and a half. They are dyed in the yarn, and carefully 
washed after the weaving is completed. The Cashmerian dyers 
of eminence profess to produce sixty-four tints, some by extracting 
colours from European woollens. The embroidered borders of 
the finest shawls are invariably made separate, and afterwards 
skilfully sewed on to the main piece. The immense labour required 
to produce a first-rate Cashmere shawl, will account for the fact, 
that a shawl will sometimes cost ,£600 or ^700 before it passes 



PASHUM OR KOORK. 55 

the rocky portals of the valley of Cashmere. These shawls 
always form part of the presents made to distinguished persons 
who visit the courts of Eastern princes. 

The Pashum, or shawl wool, properly so called, is a downy 
substance found next the skin and below the thick hair of the 
Thibetan goat. It is of three colours, white, drab, and dark 
lavender. The best kind is produced in the semi-Chinese pro- 
vince of Turfan Kechar, and exported via Yarkand to Cashmere. 
All the finest shawls are made of this wool ; but as the Maharajah 
of Cashmere keeps a strict monopoly of the article, the Punjab 
shawl weavers cannot procure it, and have to be content with an 
inferior kind of pashum, produced at Chathan, and exported via 
Leh to Umritsur, Nurpur, Loodianah, Jelapur, and other shawl- 
producing towns of the Punjab. The price of white pashum in 
Cashmere is, for uncleaned, 3s. to 4$". per lb. ; cleaned, 6s. to js. ; 
of the Tusha, or dark lavender wool, 2s. to 3J. per lb., uncleaned ; 
and $s. to js. cleaned. 

The shawls of Kerman, in Persia, are not much inferior to 
those of Cashmere. They are woven by hand, similarly to the 
carpets. The material called " koork," of which the shawls are 
made, is the under wool of the white goat, numerous flocks of 
which animal are in the neighbourhood. These flocks migrate 
annually, according to the season. Major Smith tells us that he 
made inquiries at Kerman why the "koork" producing goats 
were only to be found in that neighbourhood, and was informed 
that in that district the rapid descent from the high plateau of 
Persia to the plains near the sea, afforded the means of keeping 
the flocks throughout the year in an almost even temperature and 
in abundant pastures, with a much shorter distance between the 
summer and winter quarters than in other parts of Persia, and 
that such an even climate, without long distances to traverse in the 
course of migration, was necessary to the delicate constitution of 
the animal, or rather to the softness of its wool. The whole of 
the " koork" is not made use of in the looms of Kerman, a large 



56 



THE COMMON GOAT. 



quantity being annually exported to Umritsur, in Upper India, 
where it is manufactured into false Cashmere shawls. 

The Common Goat and its Commercial Products. — 
Being the natural inhabitant of mountainous regions, and injurious 
to trees and shrubs, it is in wild, rocky countries that the goat is 
mostly reared. In Europe, the goat is chiefly found in Spain, which 
has about 4,500,000; Portugal and Austria 1,000,000 each; Ger- 
many nearly 1,700,000 ; France 1,800,000; and Russia 1,400,000, 
besides some in Asia. The United Kingdom has about 1,000,000 ; 
Sweden and Norway 500,000, and smaller numbers are found in 
Italy and Switzerland. Asia maintains a large number, for in the 
Peninsula of India alone there are about 6,000,000. 

Statistics of Goats in various countries according to the latest 
official returns. 



Russia . . . 


1871, 


1,330,000 


Greece 


. 1867, 


2,289,123 


Sweden 


1873, 


121,840 


Turkey . 


• • 1874, 


1,500,000 


Norway . 


iS75, 


357,io2 


United Kingdc 


jm (estimate) 


1,000,000 


German Empire . 


iS73, 


1,709,521 


Morocco, 1S7 


5 (estimate) 


12,000,030 


Saxony 


1867, 


93,003 


Egypt 


• 1871, 


23,907 


Holland . . 


1873, 


146,169 


Algeria . 


. . 1861, 


3,500,000 


Belgium 


1866, 


197,138 


Cape Colony 


• 1875, 


3,095,541 


France . . . 


1872, 


i,79i 5 725 


British India 


(estimate) 


6,000,000 


Portugal 


1852, 


1,014,742 


Ceylon 


. 1872, 


88,197 


Spain . . . 


1865, 


4,531,228 


Reunion . 


. . 1866, 


11,822 


Italy . 


1874, 


1,688,478 


Martinique . 


. 1865, 


4,054 


Austria Proper . 


1871, 


979, 104 


Guadaloupe 


. . 1 866, 


9,836 


Hungary 


1870, 


459,810 


United States 


• 1875, 


2,500,000 


Switzerland . . 


1866, 


375,482 


Argentine 


Re- 




Moldavia and 






public 


• 1874, 


1,300,000 


Wallachia . 


1873, 


305,316 


Uruguay 


. . 1871, 


60,000 



The wool-bearing goats of Eastern Asia and their products 
have been already alluded to, but it may be mentioned here that 
there are about 1000 pure Angoras in Cordova, South America, 
introduced from the Cape Colony in 1864, and 2000 to 3000 of 
various crosses, besides a million or more of native goats, which 
can be bought there for about 3s. each. 

Between Kangra and Ladakh, goats and sheep are much used 



VARIETIES OE THE GOAT. 57 

for light burdens, especially in the rice trade between Kooloo and 
Ladakh. Flocks of these hardy little animals are daily to be met 
skipping over the rough and rocky roads, and up and down their 
precipitous sides, with loads of 24 to 32 lb. on their backs, and 
they travel 12 and even 15 miles a day without any apparent 
labour or fatigue. 

Passing now to Africa, in the countries bordering on the Medi- 
terranean, Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, &c, there are many millions 
of goats, and at the southern extremity of the continent, the goats 
number about 2,500,000. Although goats are numerous in 
Morocco, especially in the southern part, the skins exported 
annually, only average about one million and a quarter, a large 
number being used up locally. The tanners of Europe have, 
however, learned to excel the Moors themselves in the art of 
preparing this kind of leather. In Morocco it is made only in four 
colours ; bright yellow, which is largely used for men's slippers, 
white and red for women's slippers, and brownish-red, which is 
employed for other purposes. From 250,000 to 300,000 pairs of 
these Moorish slippers are annually exported. 

In Northern Africa, three races of goats are chiefly met with, the 
Bedouin, or true Arab goat, the Maltese, which has long been 
introduced, and the Spanish goat, which is met with in some parts 
of Algeria. 

The Bedouin goat is of medium height, well formed and hardy. 
The hair is generally black and long, and is used for various 
purposes ; mixed with sheep's wool or camels' hair to make cords 
or fabrics for tents, and alone to stuff cushions. The chief value 
of the goat to the Arab is, in common with the sheep, to furnish 
milk, as drinkable water is often difficult to obtain, especially in 
the south. The goat is also used as a beast of burden in some 
districts to transport water in goat skins. 

Smaller than the Arab goat, the Maltese goat is a much better 
milch animal, frequently yielding five or six quarts of excellent 
milk per day. The colour of its hair, like that of most domesti- 



58 TRADE IN GOAT SKINS. 

cated animals, varies considerably. Unlike the Arab goats, which 
are mixed with the sheep, the Maltese goats are kept in separate 
flocks on the hill slopes in the neighbourhood of towns, and are 
valued at about ^3 or £4 each. 

The Spanish goat is larger and stronger built than either of the 
preceding, and is a good milker, but not equal to the Maltese 
variety. Its hair is black or brown. 

The goat is also spread over many parts of America, especially 
in the Northern and Southern regions. 

The mountain goat (Aplocerus montanus) is found throughout 
all the mountain ranges of North-West America, to within a short 
distance of the Polar Sea, if indeed it does not reach it. It is a 
larger animal than the domestic goat {Capra Mr ens), which it only 
resembles in name, and in having a beard. It is covered with 
long and rather brittle white hair, beneath which a coat of very 
fine white curly wool lies close to the skin. The flesh, though rank, 
is fat and tender, and is much relished by the mountain Indians, 
who also make robes, clothing, and leather from the skin. 

In mountainous countries goats render considerable service 
to mankind, the flesh of the old ones being salted as winter 
provisions ; they are the cow of the poor, and their milk is used 
in many places for the making of cheese, as in Portugal, where 
four or five million pounds are made. The flesh of the kid is 
highly palatable, being equal in flavour to the most delicate 
lamb. But it is for the kid skins — for glove making — that the 
animals are most valued. The importance of the glove trade 
may be estimated by the French manufacture, which is said to 
exceed 30,000,000 pairs, of the value of between ^3,000.000 and 
^4,000,000 sterling, giving employment to nearly 90,000 persons. 
Although many of these gloves are made of lamb and other skins, 
the best are always of kid. 

Glove Manufacture. — Independent of the elastic quality of 
the skin, a good glove is distinguished, first, by its being neatly 
sewed, secondly, by the thumb seam not extending too far into 



THE GLOVE MANUFACTURE. 59 

the palm, and lastly, by the colour of the exterior not having 
soiled the inside. Most of the lower priced English gloves offered 
as kid, are in reality made of lamb skin. Beaver, though the 
quality is various, forms the commonest description of leather 
gloves. The Woodstock is a very superior beaver, to which much 
attention is paid both to the shape and sewing. Doeskin is a 
more thick, durable, and soft leather. Buckskin is the closest 
grained, and consequently the stoutest leather of which gloves are 
made. Its elasticity, though trifling, is sufficient. It also bears 
cleaning better than any other kind. It may be had in white, 
drab, or buff. Sheep skin is generally white, and most usually 
made by contract for the army. Tan is of three qualities, and is 
a very serviceable and cheap glove for gardening, riding, or 
driving. The home production of gloves was valued at upwards 
of^" 1, 000,000 sterling a quarter of a century ago; but there are 
no reliable details to guide us as to the value of the manufacture 
at present, although it has been stated at ^2, 000,000. Austria has 
of late years made great strides in glove-making, for the exports 
of gloves are now valued at ^4,500,000. Our foreign imports of 
gloves are large. In 1850 we imported 3,250.000 pairs of gloves. 
In i860 the duty was removed, and the quantity of foreign gloves 
received has since largely increased. In 1874 we imported 13 \ 
million pairs, valued at i^ million sterling. The manufacture is 
principally carried on in the towns of Worcester, London, Yeovil, 
Stoke, and Milborne Port. Woodstock and Witney are known for 
the so-called " beaver," made of buck and doe leather for military 
and hunting purposes. In Hexham and Nantwich a trade still 
lingers for tanned gloves. What are called "dog-skin" gloves 
are an English speciality made of Cape sheep skin. Limerick 
is very famous for its gloves, which are so soft and light, that 
a pair are frequently packed in a walnut shell as a present. 
The French glove manufacture is an important and celebrated 
one. Nearly 2,000,000 dozen pairs are annually made, valued at 
about ^"3,000,000, of which three-fourths are exported. The 



6o LEGENDS ATTACHED TO GLOVES. 

principal towns where the trade is carried on are Paris, Grenoble, 
Chaumont, Milhau, Nancy, and Blois. 

It was only in the reign of Louis XIV. that leather gloves began 
to be made in France. 

Gloves play a conspicuous part in many national customs which 
originated in the days of chivalry, such as throwing down the glove 
•as a challenge of combat, hanging out the glove at licensed fairs, 
&c. The origin of the custom which prevails at a maiden assizes, 
when a pair of gloves is presented to the presiding judge, is not 
generally known. In former times the judges of the land were 
prohibited from wearing gloves on the bench, and hence the 
custom, when there is no judicial business to discharge, of pre- 
senting a pair of gloves. 

As the delivery of gloves was once a part of the ceremony used 
in giving possession, so the depriving of them was a mark of 
divesting a person of office, and degradation. Challenging by the 
glove was continued down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth in this 
country, and is still in use in some parts of the world. One 
•ceremony yet remains with us, in which the challenge is given by 
a glove, at the coronation of the sovereign, when the champion, 
completely armed and mounted, enters Westminster Hall, and 
professes his readiness to meet in single combat, any one who 
disputes the title of the successor to the crown, and thereupon 
throws down his glove or gauntlet, as a token of defiance. 

As the leather for gloves requires to be very soft, it is prepared 
by a process called tawing. Two kinds of skin are employed for 
conversion into the better qualities of kid leather, one of these, 
the most expensive, being the skins of young goats, fed solely 
with milk, the other lamb skin. Each of these skins yields on an 
average two pairs of gloves. After being soaked in water to soften 
them, scraped on the " beam," buried for a fortnight, and soaked 
in a fermenting mixture of bran and water, the skins are steeped 
for a few minutes in a mixture of alum and salt dissolved in water, 
or in this solution with flour and yolk of egg ; they are then 



TRADE IN GOATS' SKINS. 61 

washed and dried. The yolks of eggs are added only in the pre- 
paration of the finest kid leather. The yolk of egg acts by the oil 
it naturally contains in the state of emulsion, this oil giving to the 
kid leather that suppleness and softness which is so much esteemed 
in gloves. One hundred skins require from six to eight pounds of 
alum and as much salt, and one egg for each skin. The dyes are 
applied either by immersion or by brushing over the leather ; the 
latter, or English method of dyeing skins, is more ordinarily 
practised. Sheep skins are split into two sections, and the flesh 
side serves for military gloves. Lamb skins are too thin to be 
split, but are made into what are called beaver gloves. Very good 
white kid leather is obtained by tawing the epidermis from lamb 
or goat skins in a saturated solution of stearic acid in alcohoh 
The leather thus obtained is very soft, has a whiter colour than 
ordinary glace' leather, and a beautiful gloss. 

The use of gloves has become so general an article of dress 
among all classes of society, that besides the very large import of 
foreign made gloves, our home trade supports a vast number of 
men, women, and children, who are employed in their manufac- 
ture ; the cutting out, sewing, binding, setting on the buttons ? 
lining, and trimming in large manufactories, affording as many 
different branches of occupation. 

In Case 139 will be found collections of gloves, and lamb and 
kid skins prepared, showing the mode of cutting out gloves, also- 
dressed goat and sheep skins, cat skins, and gloves made from rat 
skins. 

Goat skins are tanned and made into various kinds of leather,, 
for ornamental purposes. 

The importance of goat skins is shown even by the British 
commerce in them. We imported in 1874 about 7 millions of 
goat and kid skins, of the value of ^"850,000 ; of those imported 
5| millions were prepared in some way, either tanned, tawed, or 
dyed. The enormous progress that has been made in the trade is 
evidenced by comparing the number imported in 1855, which was. 



62 GOATS' SKINS AND GOATS' HAIR. 

only 1,200,000 skins. We draw our supplies mainly from two 
quarters : — 5 J millions of goat skins reach us from India, chiefly 
from the Madras presidency ; and 1 million from South Africa, 
where there are now about 3,000,000 goats of all kinds. 

Twenty years ago we scarcely received a quarter of a million 
from South Africa. Goat skins are received brined or salted. 
The largest and best of the latter kind average 52 to 56 pounds 
weight per dozen; seconds, 42 to 451b. the dozen; and small, 28 
to 341b. the dozen. East Indian tanned skins ranging from 9 to 
1 21b. weight are worth 13^. to 15^. per dozen. Best grain goat 
skins 40J. to 80 s., and seconds iSs. to 48^. per dozen. 

The hair of the goat makes good linseys, and that of the Welsh 
he-goat is in request for forensic wigs. Ropes are sometimes 
made from goat's hair, and are said to last longer, when used in 
water, than those of hemp. Coloured goats' hair from the tan- 
neries sells at about 2\d. per lb., and white fetches 6d. per lb. It 
is used for making yarn, coarse blankets, mops, &c. Candles are 
made with goats' tallow, which, for whiteness and quality, are said 
to be superior to those of wax. The horns of the goat afford 
excellent handles for knives and forks. 

Skin bottles, which were used before the discovery of glass and 
cask-making, are still much employed as a means of transport in 
Southern Europe, parts of Asia, and Africa. In Spain a wine 
skin made of goats' hide or hog skin, pitched or rosined, is found 
more convenient for carrying on the back of a mule, and is 
cheaper than a cask. The Arabs always use leather bottles made 
of goat skins for their water, milk, wine, &c. Some of these are 
shown at the Bethnal Green Museum, hung under the stairs lead- 
ing to the Picture Gallery.* 

When the goat is killed, the head and lower portions of the 
legs are cut off; then without cutting the skin, except a little at 
the neck, it is drawn off the body. It is then cleaned and 

* There are water skins, butter bottles from Egypt, and many large leather 
tobacco pouches shown. 



SKIN BOTTLES. 63 

tarred ; if it should be used without tarring, an unpleasant 
taste would be imparted to the liquid. When thoroughly pre- 
pared, the skin at the leg ends is tied up, and the neck, which 
is the mouth of the bottle, is also furnished with a string for 
tying. 

Leather bottles containing fifty or sixty gallons are also made of 
the skins of oxen. One of these, filled with liquid, is a load for a 
camel. The camels, in returning, can carry back other articles of 
merchandise, while the merchants, taking their empty skin bottles 
and filling them with air, tie a great number of them together in 
the form of a raft. Then laying a few boards on the top of these, 
they have a vessel with which they can navigate the stream, and 
placing on it some of their attendants, with such goods as they 
wish to send home in this way, they dismiss them. Thus we see 
the leather bottles are sometimes put to a double use. 

Here is another account of the mode in which the leathern, 
bottle was, and is still, made in France, Spain, and the East, 
according as it is sewn or not sewn. To make a bottle which 
is not sewn, a buck is taken and bled to death, then inflated 
with the traditional bellows to detach the skin from the flesh. 
The head is then cut off above the neck, and the fore-legs 
.at the knee joints, after which the carcase is hung up by the 
hind legs, and the whole body is got piecemeal out of the 
opening at the neck. This done, the hind legs are cut off, and 
the skin is turned inside out ; the latter is then cleaned in 
various ways, but especially with pounded salt, which has the 
property of preserving it. It is then placed under a stone, and 
left there for several days, fifteen at least. When it is calculated 
that this summary preparation has succeeded, the skin is again 
turned and shorn more or less closely according to the quality. 
Lastly, with catgut or simple twine, the openings of the legs and 
neck are sewn up, unless the latter opening is preserved for the 
purpose of closing it eventually with a bung surrounded with 
linen, and in which a hole is made of the diameter of the cork or 



64 LEATHERN BOTTLES. 

other stopper intended for it. As for the opening of the anus 
this must perforce be sewn up. 

The seivn leathern bottle is generally made of cow hide ; skins 
without folds are chosen, and these are soaked in lime water 
which has already been used. As soon as they are sufficiently 
softened, they are put into a bath of fresh whitewash ; then they 
are peeled, washed in running water, then dried, at first in the 
sun, and afterwards in the shade on dry ground. The skins are 
then put again into water, and, lastly, cut into shape and sewn by 
the aid of a cobbler's awl, the flesh side inwards. It is curious to 
see with what rapidity in certain countries the workmen will cut 
out and sew up these leathern bottles. 

There are several ways of preserving them for a very long time, 
and of preventing them from wearing into holes ; the most preva- 
lent method, especially in the case of those made of buck skin, is 
to treat them with honey-water, in which has been dissolved some 
rye-flour carefully sifted. 

There is a large trade done in leathern bottles in the Levant,, 
especially in towns where caravans and armies are provisioned. 
In the Turkish army, a certain number of soldiers, in regular 
companies, have to carry these bottles filled with water, to serve 
out to their officers and comrades in the field. The leathern 
bottle held its ground in France for a long time against clay and 
wooden- vessels, and even barrels; as late as the time of 
Philippe of Valois leathern bottles were seen on the king's table. 
By reason of the difficulty of gauging their contents, however, 
they could never be used as measures ; but when a bottle of any 
liquid was mentioned, the precaution was always taken to specify 
the quantity it should contain. The Arabs, however, make these 
bottles of a stated capacity, and they contain as near as possible 
the quantity of liquid which it is declared they can and ought to 
hold. They are often made double ; this, however, does not 
prevent the scorching winds of the deserts from drying them up 
completely in a few hours. 



SPECIES OF THE LLAMA TRIBE. 



65 



THE LLAMA TRIBE. 

Of the animals of the Llama tribe of South America every 
part is turned to use. Their wool is made into cords, fabrics, 
and sacks. Their skin is tanned, their bones are used to 
make weaver's utensils, &c, and their dung is employed for 
fuel. 




There are four distinct species of this family common to 
South America, the Llama {Auchenia Lama), the Alpaca {Auchenia 
Eaca), the Guanaco {Auchenia Guanaco), and the Vicugna {Au- 
chenia Vicugna). 

The llama is the largest and least valued of the domesticated 



66 ALPACA WOOL. 

animals, and, like the camel, is used as a beast of burden in Peru, 
but it is more useful than the camel, inasmuch as its flesh serves 
more generally for food, when young it is savoury and nutritious, 
and its wool for clothing and other useful purposes. The number 
of these animals employed as beasts of burden, in conveying 
produce, &c, from the interior to the coast, and between town 
and town, the mines, &c, has been estimated at nearly 2,000,000. 
Their load is from 60 to 150 lbs., and they travel about nine or 
ten miles a day ; they are frequently thus driven in flocks of 
from 500 to 1000. Very little llama wool is exported, the 
demand being great for local consumption, the quantity used 
up for sacking, cordage, carpets, and fabrics being estimated 
at 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 lbs. The llamas used as beasts of 
burden are never shorn, their wool serving the purposes of a 
pack. 

The most useful of these animals for its wool is the Alpaca. Its 
fleece is superior to that of the sheep in length and softness, 
averaging 7 to 9 inches, and sometimes it is procured of an extra- 
ordinary length. The fleeces, when annually shorn, range from 
7 to 12 lbs. Contrary to experience in other descriptions of 
wool, the fibre of the alpaca acquires strength without coarse- 
ness, besides each filament appears straight, well formed, and free 
from crispness, and the quality is more uniform throughout the 
fleece. There is also a transparency, a glittering brightness which 
is enhanced on its passing through the dye vat. It is distin- 
guished by softness and elasticity, essential properties in the 
manufacture of fine goods, being exempt from spiral, curly, and 
shaggy defects ; and it spins easily when treated properly accord- 
ing to the present improved method, and yields an even, strong, 
and true thread. Notwithstanding the remarkable quality and 
beauty of the alpaca wool, it was long before its value was appre- 
ciated in Europe. Now the imports of this wool into the United 
Kingdom are from 4,000,000 to 4,500,000 lbs. annually, of the 
aggregate value of ,£550,000, the ruling price being, in 1876, about 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ALPACA. 



67 



'is. \d. per lb. There is a good collection of alpaca wool and 
fabrics at the Bethnal Green Museum.* 

To Sir Titus Salt, of Bradford, must, undoubtedly, be awarded 
the high praise of finally overcoming the difficulties of preparing 




THE ALPACA OF PERU. 



and spinning alpaca wool, so as to produce an even and true 
thread, and by combining it with cotton warps, which had then 

* Cases 83 and 84 contain 16 samples of alpaca and vicuna wool of different 
colours from Peru ; 88, alpaca wool from South Australia and Victoria ; 87, 
alpaca wool and yarn ; and 85, three llama fleeces— grey, brown, and black — 
from animals raised in this country, and presented by Baroness Burdett CoUtts. 
Case 88 has a progressive series, illustrating the stages of the alpaca manu- 
facture presented by Sir Titus Salt and Sons : and 91, 92, and 93, are cases 
of fine woollen mixed fabrics, alpaca, mohair, &c, for ladies' dresses. 



68 THE GUANA CO AND VICUNA. 

(1836) been introduced into the trade of Bradford, improving the 
manufacture, so as to make it one of the staple industries of the 
kingdom. By an admirable adaptation of machinery the material 
is now worked up with the ease of ordinary wool. 

Distinguished at first, when the Spaniards discovered Peru, by 
the name of " Peruvian sheep," on account of its woolly fleece, 
a better acquaintance with the Alpaca has proved that it is a 
widely different animal. Its size is somewhat above that of a 
large goat. It is reared for its wool, which is of much higher 
value than that of the sheep, and for its flesh, but little inferior 
to mutton, and of which it yields perhaps three or four times the 
weight that a sheep does. 

The Peruvians long guarded the Alpaca with scrupulous 
jealousy, and endeavoured to restrict it to their own country by 
the most stringent prohibitions and penalties against its shipment. 
A few, however, are now scattered over Europe. In 185S Mr. 
Charles Ledger succeeded in taking a flock of Alpacas through 
the interior of South America, and shipping them at a Chilian port 
for Australia, landing 276 at Sydney. Although the Colonial 
Government bought these, and paid great attention to them, they 
have not progressed so rapidly and so well as was at first antici- 
pated. Like the Merino sheep in Australia, they may, however, 
form the nucleus of future prosperity, when we consider that in 
1 80 1 there were under 7,000 sheep in Australia, while the numbers 
in all the Australian settlements in 1875 were over 62,000,000. 

So valuable are their services considered, that in the interior 
provinces of Peru there is scarcely a cottager who does not keep 
a dozen llamas and as many alpacas. The first serve to carry 
his corn, his potatoes, and his fruit to market, while the wool of 
the latter clothes his family, and the flesh of both, fresh or dried, 
affords a wholesome meal. Their skins also serve him for a bed. 

The Guanaco is the largest of these animals, and ranges over a 
greater extent of country, being found on the immense tracts of 
table-land as far south as Terra del Fuego, and north to the slopes 



THE CAMEL AND ITS PRODUCTS. 69 

of the towering Chimborazo. Dr. Darwin mentions having met 
with herds of 500 in Patagonia. The wool, which is of a dark 
brown colour, is much shorter, coarser, and intermingled with hair. 
The Patagonians and Auracanian Indians of Chili work it up into 
blankets, ponchos, &c, while its skin is used as a quilt. We do 
not receive any large quantity of guanaco or vicuna wool. The 
.flesh of this animal is the best of the class and is highly esteemed. 
The Vicuna is the smallest but most graceful animal of any of 
the species, and its wool, of a pale reddish brown, more of the 
beaver caste, is finer and even more valued than that of the 
alpaca, but its yield is small, seldom exceeding a pound a year. 
The flesh salted, and dried under the name of " charqui," is eaten, 
but is not considered so good as that of the Guanaco or Alpaca. 
Opinions on this point seem however to differ, some considering 
the flesh of the vicuna equal to venison. 

s THE CAMEL AND ITS PRODUCTS. 

There are two distinct species of Camel, the one-humped and 
the two-humped. 

The common two-humped camel {Camelus Bactrianus) is the 
largest, and is spread over Central Asia, between the Sea of Aral 
to Siberia, Thibet, and China. It is bred far to the north by the 
Kirghiz and Cossacks. In Mongolia the traffic is transferred from 
the backs of this camel to those of reindeer from the Arctic regions. 
The two-humped camel has been known from ancient historic 
times. It is said to be still found in a wild state in Turkistan and 
Thibet, and is distributed among most of the tribes of Asia. 

Throughout Turan the two-humped camel is in general use, 
from its being better able to support the cold than the drome- 
clary, which is employed on the southern slopes of the Hindu- 
Kush. In Khiva, however, a large single-humped camel, called 
*' Nar," is in great request. About 6000 camels are engaged in 
the caravan trade from Bokhara to Russia, conveying Asiatic goods. 
Laden camels travel the road between Yarkand and Kokand. 



70 PECULIARITIES OF THE CAMEL. 

The camels employed in the caravans that cross the Siberian steppe 
to Russia carry loads varying from 640 to 720 lbs. In Persia there 
are a great many dromedaries, and there is an artillery corps of 
some 200, trained to carry a gun, gunner, and ammunition. 
Turkey also has a regiment of six squadrons of camels for military- 
service. 

The Arabian or single-humped camel ( Camclus Dromedarius) is- 
met with in Persia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and 
Senegal. 

The ordinary Arabian camel is not, properly speaking, the 
" dromedary," which name, of Greek origin, denotes a light and 
highly cultivated breed of racer proportions, celebrated for its. 
fleetness, the Mehari or Ashari of Barbary, and known as the 
Sindairi in India, which is a very different race from the heavy- 
baggage camel of the same countries. A fleet or dromedary race 
is said to exist in China. 

Although the dromedary is a native of Arabia, it is in Africa,, 
where the conquering Arabs have carried it, that it is the most 
multiplied, and its characters have been brought to the greatest 
perfection. The " mehari," or saddle dromedary, of the best 
breed and the fleetest pace, can exceptionally cover a distance of 
120 miles in a day, and has done 200 in 24 hours without drink- 
ing or eating. According to the Arab saying, the mehari is to the 
djemel or pack dromedary what the noble is to the peasant. 

Dr. Leared, in his recent work, " Morocco and the Moors," says 
that the burden camel, "Jimmel," is there the most important of 
the domesticated animals. By its means the products of distant 
provinces are interchanged, and commerce is carried on with places, 
like Timbuctoo, in the heart of Africa. The strength and en- 
during qualities of the camel alone make such journeys possible. 
Day after day, from sunrise to sunset, this patient animal will 
plod through a desert at the rate of about two miles an hour, while 
carrying a load of four hundredweight or even more. To sustain 
all this patient toil, a small meal of grain, or even of straw, with 



THE MEHARI, OR RACING CAMEL. 71 



water at intervals of days, will suffice. In the north, where the 
camel is larger, and food can be procured on a journey, tba 




THE MEHARI, OR RACING CAMEL. 

animal will carry as much as six hundredweight. The ordinary 
price of one is about ;£"io. 



72 CAMELS IN ASIA. 

The fast camel, or " Mehari," bears the same relation to the 
burden camel as our thoroughbred horse does to a cart-horse. 
The form of the fast camel is more slender and elegant, and his 
special characteristic lies in his speed. The statements made in 
respect to this, as also of his endurance, seem almost fabulous. 
This breed of camels varies greatly in excellence, and one of first- 
rate quality is valued at a very large sum of money. 

Camels have adaptations of structure to the peculiar mode of 
life, and to the climate and conditions of existence, in the localities 
in which they are appointed to dwell, the callosities enabling them 
to kneel or lie down on the burning sand without inconvenience, 
and the hump containing a supply of nutriment against a time of 
scarcity, analogous to the internal provision for storing up water 
which the camels have in common with the llamas. After a long 
and wearisome journey, the humps of the Bactrian camel more 
especially, are described by several observers to hang over like 
empty bags. 

The provision for storing water is of two kinds, — the " honey- 
comb-bag" of other ruminants being converted into a receptacle 
for water, to contain any excess of fluid obtained by drinking, 
while a large cellular apparatus connected with the paunch retains 
the excess of moisture derived by secretion from over succulent 
food. The structure of a camel's foot— a broad convex cushion 
underneath — is especially adapted for treading on soft yielding 
sand, while the joints are so articulated that the foot is necessarily 
lifted high at every step, without wearisome effort to the animal. 
Again, the long pliable neck, the hard palate, and the powerful teeth, 
are obviously suited to seize and tear away and masticate the tough 
prickly vegetation of the desert ; and the eyes, nostrils, and ears 
are beautifully guarded against the intrusion of particles of sand ! 

The one-humped camel of Turkestan is a very different animal 
from the Arab or Indian camel, and is even considered a distinct 
species by Professor Eversmann in his notice of the camels of 
Bokhara. 



CARAVANS OF CAMELS. 73 

The Lohani merchants, who are called Povindahs or runners, 
and carry on the trade communication between India and Central 
Asia, have an immense number of camels. They number some 
12,000 fighting men and 60,000 camels, and every year they lose 
.a hundred or more men and at least two per cent, of their camels, 
besides some hundred loads of merchandise at the hands of 
Waziri and Sulairiman Khyl tribes. A direct trade was first 
-opened up about thirty years ago between Troitsk, on the 
'Orenburg frontier, and Chuguchak, across the Kirghiz steppe, by 
the enterprise of the Tartars, with a caravan consisting of 70 
camels, each carrying a load of 560 lbs. 

Camels' hair is produced in Bar and Thai, or waste tracts in 
Shakpur, Rohtak, Shang, and Gugaira, which are camel-feeding 
districts. The soft underdown, which is of a light brown colour, 
is used in the manufacture of cloth for " chogas " of a common 
kind. In former years a good deal of camels' hair used to be 
shipped from Russia, occasionally exceeding 27,000 pounds. 

As for colour, the Indian camels vary from black to white, with 
every intermediate shade of cream, drab, and mouse colour ; but 
the extreme colours are rare. In Arabia it is said that a lady of 
Nedj considers it a degradation to mount any other than a black 
camel ; while an Ozanian beauty prefers one that is grey or white. 
In the continuation of Clapperton's journey, by Lander, we are 
told of the arrival of 500 camels laden with salt from the borders 
of the Great Desert, which " were preceded by a party of Tuarick 
merchants, whose appearance was grand and imposing. They all 
entered full trot, riding on handsome camels, some of them red 
and white, and others black and white." 

A caravan in Africa may consist of a thousand camels, nay, 
sometimes four or five thousand collected together, and a single 
individual will be the master of four or five hundred. The Dey 
of Tunis singly owns thirty thousand. It is difficult to form an 
•estimate of the number of camels, as precise data are wanting. 
Twenty years ago there were 60,000 in the Russian Empire, 



74 ECONOMIC USES OF THE CAMEL. 

nearly all in Europe and the Caucasus ; Spain has 3000 or 4000, 
chiefly in the Canaries ; in Tunis there are probably 50,000, but 
in Africa and Asia there must be very large numbers. The camels 
in Algeria are estimated to number 180,000; in the single pro- 
vince of Oran there are more than 60,000. The camel arrives at 
maturity in about five years, and the duration of its life is from 
forty to fifty years, but it varies, in India seldom living longer than 
twenty-five years, and in Algeria and Egypt thirty. 

The camel is an important adjunct to trade and commerce in 
tropical sandy regions as a beast of burden. Small camels will 
carry a load of from 600 to 800 pounds ; while the largest and 
strongest will bear a burden of 1000 pounds or upwards at a rate 
of thirty to thirty-five miles a day. Camels used for speed alone 
will, however, travel more than double that distance. 

The camel is of great service to the Chinese in the northern 
provinces, and to the Mongols, as a beast of burden ; they eat its 
flesh and make ropes of its hair. Its fat, called " the oil of 
bunches," is used in rheumatic affections. 

The natives of Africa esteem camel's flesh more than that of 
any other animal, but in other quarters it is not held in equal 
favour, being hard and unsavory, and little esteemed even by the 
Tartars. They use, however, the hump cut into slices, which, 
dissolved in tea, serves the purpose of butter. The camel was. 
eaten both by the Greeks and Persians. Heliogabalus had 
camel's flesh and camel's fat served up at his banquets, and the 
flesh of the young dromedary is considered, by the Arabs, equal 
to veal. 

Camels were introduced into Peru and Caraccas from the 
Canaries, at a cost of about ^1400, in the middle of the 16th 
century, but did not thrive, and were superseded by mules and 
llamas. Camels have also been carried to Australia and Brazil at 
great expense, but have not succeeded well. 

The two-humped camel may be classed among the wool-pro- 
ducing animals. The most expensive of the articles the Bokharians 



CAMELS' HAIR. 75 

bring are the shawls, said to be fabricated of the soft downy hair 
of the dromedary's belly. They are made of strips about eight 
inches wide, sewed together so neatly, that in coloured goods it is, 
impossible to discover the junction. The white shawls have a 
variegated border made of the fibrous cuticle of a plant of the 
nettle tribe. These are so highly valued, that the sum of 120a 
roubles (probably paper roubles), .£180, is sometimes paid for 
one. 

Camel's hair, or more properly wool, for the hairs are in small 
proportion, is of great value in the countries where the animal is 
employed, but our imports are very small, only from 200,000 to 
300,000 pounds annually ; its principal use being for making fine 
brushes or pencils for water-colour painting. * 

The quality of the hair of the dromedary varies on different 
parts of the body, the finest and best is on the shoulders and the 
hump. In the young animal the hair is fine and smooth, but 
becomes curly and crisp with age. The camel is shorn in the 
spring after the second year. 

The following description shows the admirable processes of 
nature in adjusting the growth of the wool so as to suit the climate 
and the season of the year : — " The wool is so thickly disposed 
that the skin of the animal can with difficulty be discerned beneath 
it, even when the wool is turned back for that purpose. In the 
spring, as the temperature grows "milder, the whole of this wool 
detaches itself from the skin, being pushed off in masses and 
flakes by the hair, which springs up beneath it, and which forms 
the summer clothing of the animal. It is at this season pulled 
or cut off, and after being cleaned, is either manufactured into 
woollens, of different textures, for home consumption, or exported 
in a raw state to Russia. This wool is called koork, or down, and 
appears to be little inferior in fineness to that procured from some 

* In Case 86 will be found samples of camel's hair of various colours, and. 
in Case 78 velvet cloth made of it, and fine French cashmere shawls made of 
it, mixed with the silky Mauchamp wool. 



76 CAMELS' HAIR, AND ITS USES. 

breeds of shawl goats, while it possesses a decided advantage over 
them all, in being both of a much longer fibre and far more easily- 
freed from hair." 

The quantity obtained from an ordinary camel weighs about 
10 lbs., but its colour and abundance depend entirely upon the 
particular species of camel, and the climate which it inhabits. 

The hair is prized according to colour, the black is the dearest, 
the red the second quality, and the grey is only worth half the 
value of the red. When spun it serves for wrappers for mer- 
chandise, and for making the tents, shawls, and carpets of the 
Arabs. In Persia more valuable manufactures are produced in 
cloths of different colours and fine stockings. The Tartar women 
of the plains make a kind of warm, soft, and light narrow cloth 
from the hair of the Bactrian camel, preserving the natural 
colours. The flesh and milk of the camel are a means of sus- 
tenance to man. Its skin is worked into leather, its manure is 
used for fuel, and it has been termed " the ship of the desert," 
carrying heavy burdens patiently. 

The camel has long been acclimatised in Spain, and breeds there. 
There are many belonging to the government as well as to pri- 
vate individuals, and they are spid at from ,£15 to ^20. They 
have not only been used there as beasts of burden and draught, 
but to plough and turn oil-mills. They are fed like other domestic 
animals, on straw, hay, oats, &c. 

A good dromedary costs at Cairo about ^"8, and the price of 
the best kind of fast camels does not exceed ^20. 



CHAPTER III. 

PRODUCTS OF THE BOVINE TRIBE. 

Having noticed the Sheep, Goats, and other wool-producing animals^ 
we are next led to consider the Bovines and their economic rela- 
tions to man, as furnishing food, hides, tallow, horns, bones, and 
other products. In this chapter estimates are given of the cattle 
in the principal past07-al countries. The races of oxen, bison, and 
buffaloes, of different regioiis, are next described; their importance y . 
both in the wild and domesticated state; the improvement made in 
the breeds in Britain and Europe; our meat supply from cattle;- 
the comparative consumption of meat in different countries; modes- 
of drying meat ; the dairy products, milk, butter, and cheese, are 
briefly described, and statistics of production furnished. 

Cattle as Food Producers. — Having dealt with the rumi- 
nating mammals which are of the highest utility as wool-bearing 
animals (chiefly those of the Ovine race), we come now to speak. 
of the Bovines, which are primarily useful to man as food-pro- 
ducers, although furnishing at the same time many other com 
mercial products of considerable value, in hides, tallow, horns and 
bones, &c. To civilised nations and many semi-civilised tribes, 
the possession of herds of cattle is of great importance. The 
pastoral wealth in some countries is indeed greater than can be- 
profitably utilised locally, and the difficulty is, in such vast areas- 
as Russia, parts of South America and Australia, to prepare the 
various flesh products in a form to be transported and profitably 
saleable in the densely populated States of Europe, where the- 
demand for animal food and the raw materials for manufactures 
outstrip the supply. 

The greater part of our domestic animals having been 
transported to America, have multiplied there prodigiously. The 



73 STATISTICS OF CATTLE. 

cow, the bull, the horse, the sheep, and the pig, are all species of 
the Old World, which were quite unknown in the New, and yet 
they may now be counted there by millions. So in the Australian 
colonies, where all these were only introduced less than a century 
ago, the pastoral wealth or live stock is still the leading charac- 
teristic of the various settlements. 

Whilst the sheep will live and even fatten upon the poorest 
vegetation, the ox needs a richer and more nutritious diet to 
make flesh and fat for the butchers and the feast. In England, 
Holland, and many other parts of Europe, the ox feeds upon fat 
meadows where water is at hand. 

Cattle are of value on more accounts than their flesh. The 
hide is an article of marketable price. Even the hoof and the 
hair have their uses, and hence are in demand in the great work- 
shops of the world, where science and skill fashion into forms, 
available for some one or other of a thousand purposes, the 
material which, but for the thrift of modern industry, would be 
cast aside as waste. 

The number of neat cattle belonging to the principal countries 
of Europe, according to the latest returns, is about 100,000,000. 
The States owning the largest number are, Russia, 23,000,000 ; 
France, 11,300,000; Austria and Hungary, 12,000,000; and the 
■German empire nearly 16,000,000, of which Prussia has" 8,600,000 

The United States have 27,220,000 cattle, and the Dominion of 
Canada, 2,700,000. The River Plate States have about 22,000,000 
head, of which Uruguay has 7,000,000, and Venezuela. Costa 
Rica, Chili, Brazil, and other American States a great many cattle. 

It is by thousands that the Tartars of Mongolia count their 
flocks and herds, and there are chiefs who own more than 
15,000, distributed over various points of the immense steppes, 
and guarded and directed to fresh pastures on horseback. From 
Africa and the Eastern countries we have less specific details of 
numbers. But we know that both in Central and Southern Africa 
ihere are large herds of cattle. 



CATTLE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



79 



according to the latest official 

West Indies, — 
British and Fo- 
reign (estimate) — 500,000 

There are no reliable data for 
Brazil, Venezuela, and the other 
South and Central American States, 
but they possess a large number of 
cattle. 

Africa. 
Egypt . . 1871, 132,666 

Algeria . . . 1861, 1,053,086 
Cape Colony . 1S75, 1,097,506 
Dutch Republics 

and Kafirs (estimate) 1,000,000 
Natal . . . 1874, 501,154 

Asia. 

Mauritius . . 1875, 29,545 

Java . . . 1873, 4,358,105 

British India (estimate) 30,000,000 

Reunion. . . 1866, 6,000 

Ceylon . . 1873, 826,690 

Australasia. 

New South Wales 1875, 2,856,699 

Victoria . . 1875, 958,658 

South Australia . 1875, 185,342 

Western Australia 1875, 46,748 

Queensland . . 1874, 1,343,093 

Tasmania . .1875, 110,450 

New Zealand . . 1874, 494,113 

Hawaiian Isles . 1866, 60,000 

We have no reliable returns of the entire live stock of British 
India, but the number of horned cattle in the Ganges Valley must 
be enormous, judging simply from the export of hides from Cal- 
cutta, which occasionally exceeds six millions annually. When it 
is remembered that this quantity represents only the surplus stock 
that is left over from the Bengal Presidency after the wants of the 
entire native community have been supplied, we may safely assume 



Cattle in various 


countries 


returns. 






Europe. 




Great Britain . . 


1876, 


5,848,214 


Ireland 


1875, 


4,111,990 


Russia . . . 


1870, 


22,770,000 


Sweden 


1373, 


2,183,394 


Norway . . . 


1865, 


950,000 


Denmark . 


1S71, 


1,238,898 


'German Empire . 


1873, 


15,776,702 


Saxony . . . 


1867, 


625,260 


Holland 


1873, 


1,432,091 


Belgium . . . 


1866, 


1,242,445 


France 


1872, 


11,284,414 


Portugal 


1870, 


5 20 ,474 


Spain . 


1865, 


2,904,598 


Italy . . . 


1874, 


3,489,125 


Austria Proper . 


1871, 


7,425,212 


Hungary 


1871, 


5,279,193 


Switzerland . . 


1866, 


993,241 


Greece 


1867, 


109,904 


Moldavia and 






Wallachia . . 


i873, 


1,886,990 


Great Britain . . 


1876, 


5,848,214 


Ireland 


1875, 


4,111,990 


America. 




United States . . 


1875, 


27,220,200 


Canadian Domi- 






nion, and other 






British Colonies 


1871, 


2,724,760 


Uruguay 


1872, 


7,200,000 


Argentine Con- 






federation . . 


i875, 


15,000,000 


Falkland Islands 


1873, 


25,000 



80 STATISTICS OF CATTIE. 

that the total number of cattle equals, if it does not exceed, that 
of human beings in that part of India. 

There are probably, according to a well-informed Indian paper, 
(the Delhi Gazette}) one hundred millions of horned beasts to be 
found between the Sutlej and Calcutta, a number which perhaps 
does not exist anywhere else on the globe, except in the pampas 
and prairies of North and South America. A more striking proof 
of the fertility of the Ganges Valley could not be given than the 
fact that, with a population per square mile greater than that of 
most European countries, it nevertheless supports a number of cattle 
only about a third less than is to be found in the whole of Europe. 

There are now nearly twice as many cattle in the several British 
Colonies as there are in the mother country, for Australia and 
New Zealand possess 6,000,000 ; our African settlements and 
Indian Islands, 2,500,000; British North America and the islands 
of the west, 3,000,000 ; making a total of 11,500,000. In 1850 
Australia only possessed 2,000,000 head of cattle, so that the 
number has trebled in a quarter of a century. 

The Basutos, Kafirs, Fingoes, and other native tribes clustering 
about the eastern borderland of the Cape, own more than two mil- 
lion head of domestic animals, valued at ^3,500,000, comprising 
more than half a million of horned cattle and 1,000,000 sheep. In 
the Dutch Free States and in Natal, there are also a large number. 

There are four distinct kinds of horned cattle met with in 
Southern Africa. 1. A coarse-boned, long-legged breed, with 
enormous horns. This is best calculated for the yoke or " trek- 
ing " work, on account of its activity, and is known as the 
"Africander" breed. 2. A more fleshy and thick-set animal,, 
with smaller horns and softer hoofs. This was originally imported 
from Holland, and is in high esteem for milking ; it is known as 
the " Fatherland " breed. 3. A diminutive active, and somewhat, 
humped animal, which is found chiefly among the natives, and 
which seems to have, with its masters, an inbred detestation of 
all kinds of artificial restraints. This ox is, in all probability, a 



AFRICAN CATTLE. Si 

cross between an Asiatic quadruped and a Spanish beast from 
the Portuguese South American provinces ; the tendency to rise 
in the back, being derived from the eastern side of the parentage. 
This is known as the Zulu breed. 4. A long-legged animal, with 
remarkably poor quarters, and with horns even bigger than the 
Africanders. This belongs to the Basuto or " Macatees" breed. 
This animal is not often seen, and is of very low value 
indeed. 

In the neighbourhood of Lake Tchad, and in the kingdom of 
Bornou, cattle are kept in great abundance. They perform all 
the laborious business at home of carriage and tillage, the camel 
only being used for war and extensive journeys. They are the 
bearers of all grain to and from the markets. 

Major Denham in his Travels tells us that a small saddle of 
plaited rushes is laid on him, when sacks made of goat skins, and 
filled with corn, are lashed on his broad and able back. A leather 
thong is passed through the cartilage of his nose, and serves as 
a bridle, while on the top of the load is mounted the owner, his 
wife, or his slave. 

The long inherited habit of the South African native is a delight 
in horned cattle. The habit has grown up from many motives. 
The natives are great milk drinkers. It is with cattle they buy 
their wives. And they have a gentlemanly liking for a fine 
animal, and especially for a swift racing ox. Then again a large, 
herd is a sign of wealth and respectability. It has not been the 
custom of the native to take a commercial view of horned cattle, 
unless in relation to wife-buying. But within the last few years a 
preference for sheep has shown itself, and on the sole ground of 
the profitableness of wool. The Kafir is actually beginning to 
barter away his beloved and cherished cattle for an animal which 
promises to be remunerative. 

The ox-hide is of indispensable utility for many purposes, both 
in South America and in Africa. In the former it is the principal 
material for the packages called " serons," in which Paraguay tea, 



82 GRAZING REGIONS OF THE WORLD. 

barks, medicinal roots, and various descriptions of produce, are, 
transported. 

In South Africa, raw hide is used by the Boers as a substitute for 
all kinds of cordage. It is made into drag ropes for the waggons, 
head-stalls for the oxen, bridles for the horses, cordage for thatching, 
the hut, slips for bottoming the beds, chairs, and stools, pickling 
tubs for his beef, and " feldt schoon" for himself and family. 

There are five great grazing regions in the world. First, the. 
interior of Asia, which has furnished rich pasturage, summer and 
winter, since the time of Abel, who was a keeper of sheep. The 
second great pasture-ground is South Africa. That immense 
region from io° south lat. to the Cape Colony in 35 S. feeds 
immense herds of graminivorous animals the year round, and has 
done so for ages. The interior of South America is the third 
great pastoral region ; the fourth is Australia ; and the fifth is the 
trans-Missouri and Mississippi country of North America, as yet 
imperfectly developed, but which perhaps surpasses in every 
natural advantage any part of the known world. 

The number of oxen returned in the United States in 1873 was. 
1 6,41 3,800, valued at ^65,860,000, and of milch cows 10,575,000, 
valued at ^£63,000,000. The beef product is given there at 
2,926,571 tons, of which 2,866,365 tons are consumed, leaving a 
surplus of 60,206 tons of beef. Of this quantity, about 11,898 
tons are shipped, and the remainder, 48,308, unutilised. 

The business of stock-raising in the United States is a growing 
one, particularly in Texas, where extensive experiments are being 
made with a view to the improvement of cattle by imported stock,, 
and it is believed that ere long, the wild long-horned cattle will 
be much changed for the better. Illinois ranks second in order,, 
possessing 1,269,000 oxen and 710,900 cows. 

The live stock trade of the South-western States has become a. 
matter of millions of cattle. The number in Texas is over 
3,500,000, with half as many more upon the western plains. From 
350,000 to 500,000 head are annually driven into Kansas,. 




G 2 



84 CLASSIFICATION OF THE BO VINES. 

Colorado, and Wyoming, to supply the eastern trade. Yearlings 
are bought at about 2\s. each, two-year-olds 32^. to 40^., cows at 
iZs. to 36s., and oxen at ^3 ; but large herds are often bought 
much below these prices. A herd of two or three thousand upon 
the trail presents a fine sight, tramping along in Indian file, ex- 
tending a distance of a mile or more over the prairie, and feeding 
upon the spring grasses as they go. At Los Animas, a junction 
railway station, there are three large slaughter-houses, where 80 or 
90 men kill and dress from 700 to 800 oxen a day. They are 
packed into refrigerator cars, which each hold from 40 to 50 
carcases. 

Cattle in immense herds are raised in the pastures of Central 
America. In the plains of Honduras, and on the eastern districts 
of Nicaragua, there are cattle farms on which are herds of from 
10,000 to 40,000 oxen, bulls and cows. 

There are four well-marked and distinct genera of the Bovines. 
1. Bos. 2. Bison. 3. Buffalo (Bubalus), of which there are 
three small groups : the Buffaloes properly so called, the Arnees, 
and the Brachycheres ; and 4. Ovibos, or Musk Ox. 

1 . Bos Taurus. The common Ox, or Domestic Cattle. 

The breeds of these are almost innumerable, caused by the 
endless crossings of one breed with another; but as the object here 
is to treat of their economic uses, rather than the agricultural 
specialities, it will not be necessary to point out the distinctions 
into which the different races now recognised have been divided. 
In Great Britain they are grouped by farmers into "breeds," 
characterised and named, from various peculiarities, as long- 
horns, short-horns, polled, &c. 

The domestic ox is perhaps the only large animal of whose 
carcase but one seventh is without some important use. 

In many countries, such as India, Africa, and some of the Euro- 
pean States, the ox is still yoked to the plough. 

In the River Plate district, goods and produce are transported 
by bullock-carts, which travel about 20 miles a day. 



86 DRAUGHT OXEN. 

Cattle are much used for draught by the Dutch farmers of South 
Africa. Besides the continual transport of produce long distances 
to market, an instance of the great demand for carriage is afforded 
in the fact that at the quarterly "nacht maal " or religious 
gathering of the Dutch at Graham's Town, from 300 to 400 
waggons are usually present, each bringing its freight of seven or 
eight persons, mostly from long distances. A colonial waggon 
and span of oxen costs from ^150 to ^250. 

Mr. H. Hall says the ox or bullock may be considered, in the 
absence of railways, as the staple animal for transport purposes 
all over South Africa. It is used in the vehicles so well known 
as Cape waggons, in spans of twelve, fourteen, or sixteen, according 
to the nature of the roads, and will draw from 25 to 40 cwt, 
although often much more. The rearing and training of oxen 
forms an important part of Cape farming, and within the last few 
years the price of a trained ox has risen from £2 10s. to ^12 or 
£14. They are generally sold in spans. There are in the Cape 
Colony above 400,000 draught oxen, besides those in Natal and 
the Dutch Free States. The pace of an ox waggon averages four 
miles an hour. 

Beyond the frontiers, especially in Namaqua and Damara land, 
both pack and riding oxen are trained, and very useful animals 







AFRICAN BULLOCK-WAGGON. 



they are. Oxen depend on a long journey entirely upon what 
they can pick up in the field. 

In Ceylon there are also about 20,000 bullock carts employed. 



88 BRITISH BREEDS OF CATTLE. 

By some naturalists the Cape ox {Bos Coffer, Sparrm.) is made 
a separate species of buffalo (Bubalus Caffe?-, Smith). It has very- 
massive horns, which cannot easily be removed from the core, 
bending downward and outward, the points swoop upward and 
inward, their length is about thirty-four inches, span thirty-seven 
to forty inches. 

British Breeds. — The crosses and varieties of English cattle 
are generally so well known to those who take an interest in stock, 
that it will only be necessary to enumerate and figure a few of the 
prominent varieties, giving more attention to descriptions of some 
of the continental breeds, which are less common. 

The Short-horns are an improved breed, now very generally 
distributed and much esteemed, in favour both with the dairyman, 
and grazier. The colour is red or white, or a mixture of both. 
All the points of the animal combine to form a symmetrical 
harmony, which is not surpassed in beauty and sweetness by any- 
other species of the domesticated ox. (See p. 85.) 

The Devon is a medium-sized breed, generally of a bright red 
colour, peculiar to the south of England. They fatten faster, and 
with less food than most other cattle, and their flesh is excellent. 
(See Devon Yearling Heifer, p. 119.) 

The Hereford oxen are much larger than the Devon, and of a 
darker red ; some are dark yellow, and a few brindled ; they 
generally have white faces, bellies, and throats \ they fatten to a 
much greater weight than the Devons. (See p. 87.) 

The Jersey or Alderney is a small delicate breed common in 
the Channel Islands ; they are in general fine boned, and of a 
light red or yellowish colour. Their milk is very rich, but is 
rather more yellow or high-coloured than that of other sorts ; they 
are much inclined to fatten, and their beef has a very fine grain, 
and is well tasted."' (See Jersey Bull, p. 121.) 

On the west wall in the Food Gallery there are fine stuffed 

* For the illustrations of prize British cattle we are indebted to the 
Agricultural Gazelle. 



9 o CONTINENTAL BREEDS OF CATTLE. 

heads of the principal breeds of cattle, such as Shorthorns, Long- 
horns, polled Angus, Galloway, Hereford, and Scotch neat. 

CONTINENTAL BREEDS. 

Scandinavian Cattle. — The Thelemark race is one of the 
few constant races of cattle, perhaps the only one, which Norway 
possesses. It is a well-defined mountain race. The animal is of 
diminutive size, as is well indicated in the illustration (p. 89) by the 
stature and attitude of the servant. Full-grown cows rarely attain 
a greater weight than 660 to 770 lbs. The most remarkable 
points in the Thelemark breed are the slender form, small head, 
with long well-shaped horns (on which buttons are usually placed,), 
the sprightly movement, and the bright colouring. This last varies 
very much, from quite white to tolerably dark, but usually the 
variations are those of red, spotted, and brindled. More than 
sixty per cent of the cattle of Sweden, and more than seventy per 
cent, of those in Norway, are milch cows. The price of good 
animals ranges from £$ us. to £6 13s. and some few remark- 
able animals have sold for £11 and upwards. 

Most of the country cattle of Sweden are some shade of red, 
with a certain amount of white, especially about the face, but 
not so constantly as with our Herefords ; the colour also varies 
from nearly yellow to a deep red. The production of milk and 
not of meat is the great object of the Scandinavian farmer. 

The best type is known as the Herrgards or nobles' race (see 
p. 91), a name which formerly distinguished it from the less-culti- 
vated type that was bred by the peasants. Mr. Jenkins, in his 
report on the Agriculture of Sweden and Norway, mentions the 
fact that one cow of this race gave as much as 920 gallons of 
milk per annum, and others yielding from 575 to 690 gallons 
have not been uncommon on the royal estates. Peasants' cows 
do not, however, yield anything like this quantity, from 200 to 
300 gallons being a high average. 



AUSTRIAN CATTLE. 



9 1 



Austrian Cattle. — Naturalists agree in considering the 
Hungarian ox as the best living representative of one at least of 
the original progenitors of our domestic cattle. 

These it is believed owe their origin to three distinct types, viz. : 
Bos firimigenius, B. Zongifrons, and B. frontosus. The two last 
are extinct as wild races, and are solely represented by certain 




COW OF THE SWEDISH HERRGARDS, OR NOBLES' RACE. 



types of domesticated cattle. Bosfirimigenius still exists in a semi- 
wild state in Chillingham Park, and is closely allied to both the 
Pembroke cattle of South Wales, and the beautiful Devons. The 
Hungarian and Podolian oxen are also considered to be more or 
less pure representatives of the primigenius type. 

The Hungarians are justly proud of their oxen, which are 
used as working cattle over the whole empire. Professor Wright- 
son states that it is no uncommon sight to see a team of oxen 



9 2 



HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 



yoked to a plough, and driven by the ploughman entirely by the 
voice, without any assistance either from reins or driver. 

The Hungarian ox becomes the best and most durable draught 
ox in the world, remaining useful throughout a long series of years, 
to be sent at last to slaughter. 

The young ox is broken-in in his fourth year, and experience 
has shown that there is hardly a breed of horses in the world that 
can compete with the Hungarian ox as a means to agriculture. 




PODOLIAN COW, GALICIA. 



The Podolian is an aboriginal race of cattle descended from the 
wild Urus {Bos firimigenius, Bojanus). Their colour is generally 
white or silver grey, with variations passing into dark grey, which 
shade is particularly seen in the bulls. Podolian oxen are much 
sought after for fattening purposes. Nearly seventy-five per cent, 
of the oxen slaughtered at Vienna belong to this race. The meat 
is very much esteemed, and is distinguished for its tenderness and 
agreeable flavour. It is as working"oxen that these cattle are most 
valued. They will travel two-and-a-quarter miles per hour when 



HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 



93 



yoked to an empty waggon, and one-and-a-half mile per hour when 
drawing a load. This race is distributed over the greater part of 
Galicia. The Podolian draught oxen have valuable qualities which 
render them exceedingly useful in the wide stretching plains which 
constitute their home. 

The Murzthal race is especially prized for its milk-giving pro- 
perties, and its suitability for draught purposes. The cows have 
been known to produce 775 gallons per annum, and 464 gallons is 




MURZTHAL COW, STYRIA. 



given as a usual average. These beautiful cattle are natives of 
Austria ; they are considered to be closely allied to the Hungarian 
cattle. The oxen work from three to eight years, after which they 
are fatted. The colour of the hair is badger grey, with brighter 
stripes round the muzzle ; colour rings round the eyes, and dark 
coloured belly. 

The white Norrisch race is known in Styria as the Mariahofer 
breed. From these and the Murzthalers (another Styrian breed) 
excellent fat oxen can be obtained. They are distinguished by 



94 



HUNGARIAN CA1TLE. 



their small horns, small well-bred head, bright eyes, handsome 
neck, broad hips, great depth of barrel, short legs, and fine skin.. 
The Murzthalers have the advantage over the Mariahofers in 
having smaller horns, and being lighter in bone, but the latter are 
more powerfully developed. 

The Montafuner race is principally found in the Montafun 
Valley, but also in the Bregenzer Forest, and in the Bavarian 
Allgau. 




MONTAFUN COW, VORARLBERG — TYROLESE RACE. 



The Mariahof cattle are natives of Western Styria, are noted' 
as milking cattle, and also fatten readily. They are a uniformly 
coloured race, often white, but sometimes inclining to lighter and 
darker degrees of fawn. They number nearly 300,000 head. 
(See cut, p. 112.) 

This tribe, which is connected with the Swiss cattle, belongs to 
the heavy average group. The cows reach a live weight of from 
8 to 9 cwt., being lighter than the Swiss and heavier than the 
Allgauer. 

The colour does not generally differ from that of the Swiss race 



HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 95 

brown and brownish grey colours are predominant. These 
animals are highly distinguished for their good temper, and their 
capabilities for draught and fattening purposes are satisfactory. 

The Egerland cattle resemble the reddish brown Tyrolese race 
in their general characters, and are said to be the result of the 
crossing of the Bohemian native race with Zillerthal bulls. They 
have small heads, and are of a nearly uniform dark reddish 
brown colour. The average weight of a full-grown ox may reach 
as much as 9 J cwt, and the animal will fetch from ^20 to 

^*2 2 IOS. 

The Egerlander prides himself upon the beautiful and regularly 
formed horns of his oxen, and he assists to develop them 
whenever their growth is not naturally uniform. This is done by 
weights, which are connected by cords to rollers attached to the 
roof of the stables ; these weights thus follow all the movements 
of the heads of the cattle ; clamps are also used, by means of 
which the horns, after having been softened with grease, are 
pressed either forwards, backwards, or sideways, as may be 
required. (See cut, p. 107.) 

The animals of the Pinzgau breed are greatly valued, not only 
for their milk-giving properties, but on account of their rapid 
development. (See cut, p. 109.) 

This race is the result of a cross of the Simmenthal breed with 
the ancient domestic cattle of the country ; it is distributed nearly 
throughout the whole of the Salzburg region, and in certain parts 
of the Tyrol adjacent, in Upper Austria, and parts of Bavaria. 
It has a very symmetrical and pleasing appearance, and is of a 
red colour, varying from light red to brownish red, with many 
white patches. It is a very desirable butcher's race. 

The so-called "Kuhland" district, which takes its name from 
its suitability for cattle-breeding, is situated in north-western 
Moravia, on the flanks of the Carpathians. The predominant 
colour of these cattle is dappled red or cherry red, with large white 
patches on the head, along the back, and on the belly ; they have 



96 THE MYSORE OX AND BRAHMIN BULL. 

also the finest, softest, silky hair, and the forehead bears a strong 
tuft of crisped or curled hair. (See cut, p. 117.) 

Although of middle height the Kuhland cattle must be classed 
with the heavier races. The live weight of a cow may be taken at 
from 6 to 10 cwt; the cows yield \\ to 3 gallons of milk per day.* 

The Mysore ox is deep in the chest, roomy in barrel, fine in the 
legs, straight-horned, and sleek of coat. The prevailing hue is a 
light cream colour. It is the carriage ox in India, the Arab among 
bullocks. 

The Indian or Brahmin bull, often called the zebu {Bos indicus), 
extends over Southern Asia and the Eastern Islands, and is found 




BRAHMIN BULL. 



also in Eastern Africa. It is common in the north-west Himalayas, 
but rarely seen in the Nepaul mountains. They are venerated by 
the Hindus, who object to slaughter them, but use them in harness, 
and they will travel about thirty miles a day. These oxen have 
pendulous ears, and are distinguished by a fatty elevated hump 

* For the various illustrations of Continental breeds of cattle we are 
indebted to the "Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England." 



USES OF THE BISON. 97 

upon the withers, which sometimes weighs 50 lbs., and, when 
properly cooked, is said to be delicious. The flesh of the animal 
is not, however, so palatable as that of the common ox. 

On the west wall are five or six fine heads and horns of the 
Gaur (Bos Gaurus), the head of an Indian cow, fine samples of 
buffalo horns, and a curious horn curled by disease. 

2. Bison. — The Bisons (Bos Bison — Bison Americaiius) are 
easily distinguished by their highly developed hump, giving them 
an extraordinary height at the withers, and also by the long hair 
which covers the anterior portions of their bodies. 

In North America the name of buffalo has been universally, 
but inaccurately, given to the bison, and we are hence constrained 
to speak of it frequently under this misnomer. They bear about 
as much resemblance to an Eastern buffalo as they do to the 
zebra or common ox. The general colour of this animal is a 
uniform dark brownish dun. The Cape ox is also often spoken of 
as the buffalo. 

Imagination can scarcely realise the numbers of bison which 
even now are found on the western plains. It is not uncommon 
to see the prairies covered with them as far as the eye can reach, 
and travellers have passed through them for days and days in 
succession, with scarcely any apparent diminution in the mass. 
Explorers have often given almost incredible accounts of the 
numbers met with. The late Horace Greeley, writing from the 
plains, says, " I know a million is a great many, but I am confident 
we saw that number yesterday. Certainly all we saw could no«; 
stand on ten square miles of ground. Often the country for 
miles on either hand seemed quite black with them * * * * 
Consider that we have traversed more than one hundred miles in 
width since we first struck them, and that for most of this distance 
the buffalo has been constantly in sight, and that they continue 
for some twenty miles farther on — this being the breadth of their 
present range, which has a length of perhaps a thousand miles , 
and you have some approach to an idea of their countless millions. 



9 8 USES OF THE BISOjV. 

I doubt whether the domesticated horned cattle of the United 
States equal the numbers, while they must fall considerably short 
in weight of the wild ones." 

The Exploring Expedition of Governor Stevens on the northern 
route of the Pacific railroad, was frequently arrested for a con- 
siderable time by herds of bison, amounting, in some instances,, 
to not less than half a million each. As the expedition rose over 
the verge of some elevation in the prairie, before them, as far as 
the eye could reach, stretched an apparently interminable sea of 
flesh. 

It would be supposed that the immense slaughter continuously 
carried on would have decimated these animals ; but, according to 
recent accounts given by Major Twining in the " Smithsonian Re- 
ports," the immense herds are constantly increasing in the north- 
western Montana ; they merely shift their grazing ground. Three 
hundred thousand human beings depend for their very lives and 
for everything — according to their savage notions — worth living 
for, solely and entirely on the bison. Its flesh is their only 
meat, and most of them will go a long time hungry rather than 
eat small game or wildfowl. The skin serves them for coats, 
beds, and boots, walls for their tents, and tiles for the roof — for 
saddles, bridles, and lassoes. The bones are converted into saddle- 
trees, into war clubs, whistles, and other musical instruments. 
Seven trains of railway cars, freighted with buffalo bones, recently 
arrived in New York to be worked up into button moulds, knife 
handles, and other uses. Of the horns are made ladles, and 
spoons, and pins ; the sinews serve for strings to bows, and for 
the attachment to their persons of scalps and such other articles 
of vertu as fall in the native's way. The hoofs and horns when 
stewed yield a superior glue, which is largely used in the con- 
struction of hunting spears and arrows. The hair of the mane 
is twisted into ropes and horse halters ; the brains even are not 
wasted, but used in the preparation of buffalo robes, leather 
thongs, and other articles made from the hide. 



BUFFALO ROBES. 



99 



The uses of the bison when dead are various. Powder flasks 
are made of their horns, and they are used for mounting knives 
and awls. The skin forms an excellent buff leather, and when 
dressed with the hair on, serves the Indians for clothes and shoes. 
" Buffalo robes " are generally the dried and prepared skins divided 
into two parts. A strip is taken from each half on the back of 
the skin where the hump was, and the two halves or sides are 
sewed together with thread made of the sinews of the animal, 




*W\^2^£§ 



BOS AMERICANUS (POPULARLY MISNAMED THE BUFFALO IN AMERICA). 



and, after much dressing, the robe is ready for market. The 
number brought into commerce varies, according to the demand, 
from 60,000 to 100,000, annually. They are much used by the 
Indians themselves for blankets, clothing, and constructing their 
lodges or tents. Not above a tenth of those slaughtered furnish 
a sufficient furry coat to serve as a robe. 

The buffalo robe has of late years been as much used in Europe 
as it is in North America for a warm travelling wrapper ; it sells 
at from -£$ to ^"io, or even higher; and in the cold climates 



ioo USES OF THE BUFFALO. 

of Europe it is similarly employed for sleigh wrappers, cloak and 
coat linings, &c. 

The flesh is a considerable article of food, and the hunch on 
the shoulders is esteemed a great delicacy. One of the most 
useful applications of buffalo meat consists in the preparation of 
pemmican, an article of food of the greatest importance in a 
northern climate from its portability and nutritious qualities. This 
is prepared by cutting the lean meat into thin slices, exposing it 
to the heat of the sun or fire, and when dry pounding it to a 
powder. It is then mixed with an equal weight of buffalo suet, 
and stuffed into bladders. Each bison will produce from 50 to 
70 lbs. of tallow, but a bull bison, when fat, will frequently yield 
150 lbs. weight of tallow, which forms a considerable article of 
commerce. The hair or wool is spun into gloves, stockings, and 
gaiters, that are very strong, and look as well as those made of the 
finest sheep's wool." The tail, mounted on a wooden stand, 
ornamented with goose or porcupine quills, is used as a whisk or 
fly-flapper. 

An attempt is being made by a farmer of Massachusetts to 
domesticate the bison, and having transported several of these 
wild roamers of the prairies to his stock farm, he intends to try a 
cross with Jersey, Ayrshire, or Durham cattle. 

It is killed in immense numbers by the North American 
Indians, solely for the tongue, the skin, and the bosses or humps. 
They have a peculiar method of dressing the skin with the brains 
of the animal, in which state it is always imported. 

3. Buffalo (Bubalus). — The name buffalo is scientifically 
restricted to a species of ox found in various parts of India and 
the Eastern islands, and to a more limited extent in some parts of 
Europe and Africa. The buffalo is of Indian origin, and was only 
brought into Italy a little before the sixth century, but has spread 
over South-eastern Europe and the North of Africa. 

* In Case 58 will be found black and grey worsted yarns, spun from the 
wool of the bison. 



USES OF THE BUFFALO. 



101 



In 1870 there were 73,153 head of buffalo in the Hungarian 
dominion ; in Greece, Piedmont, Italy, and Spain, the buffalo is 
also found and esteemed as an animal of draught. But he must 
have water to revel in, and hence thrives only in fenny land. 
The accompanying is a sketch of a European buffalo bull, thus 
described by Prof. Wrightson : " The colour is completely black, 
hair and skin, hoofs and horns, all partaking of this sable hue. 



^f ^ 



S\ \\ 




EUROPEAN BUFFALO BULL. 



The limbs are short and thick, the body massive, the head large, 
the forehead arched and narrow, the muzzle large and black, 
horns low placed, triangular at base, furrowed across and directed 
backwards and downwards, finally turning upwards towards 
the point. The hair is scattered somewhat thinly over the 
body of the full-grown animal, although the calves are well 
covered." 

Buffalo milk is an ingredient in the Transylvanian national 
diet which cannot be dispensed with upon great occasions. It 
is richer than that yielded by any other animal. In South 
Hungary and Transylvania no gentleman considers his breakfast 



o2 USES OF THE BUFFALO. 

complete without buffalo milk with his coffee. The largest 
milkers give 6 quarts per day, but 2 or 3 quarts is a more ordinary 
quantity. The flesh is " stringy," and gives off a musky odour 
which spreads all over the house, and also affects the milk. For 
this reason buffalo beef is seldom used, although the veal is 
considered good. The skin makes good leather. 

The European buffaloes which were shown at the Vienna 
Exhibition in 1873, attracted interest from their peculiar smell, as 
well as shape. The cows are remarkable for their breadth of hip 
(crux) which is a peculiarity of the buffalo. 

Of the number of these animals existing in Eastern countries 
we have no certain data. According to a late census there 
were, however, in British Burmah, 600,000 buffaloes, and 566,000 
cows and oxen. In Java, in 1873, there were 2,750,000, besides 
1,628,000 other cattle. 

The Indian buffaloes (Bubalus buflus) are of large size, but low 
in proportion to their bulk. 

The buffalo is poorly fed, not generally cared for, and usually 
killed when too old to breed or give milk. The hide of the male 
buffalo is coarse, and it gets such bad treatment in the plough 
or cart that it is generally full of sores and goad marks. In large 
towns there is a market for buffalo beef for the low caste and 
poorer Mussulman population, and also for grease, and younger 
and better cattle are slaughtered ; it is from these that the local 
tanners select their hides for the finer uses of harness, saddlery, 
and accoutrements. 

A pigment known as "purree" or Indian yellow is produced in 
Monghyr from the urine of horned cattle fed on decayed and 
yellow mango leaves. It is used in the locality of production, 
and also sent to Calcutta for export.'"" 

The buffalo possesses two excellent qualities ; he is immensely 
strong, and his wants are easily satisfied. The buffalo is the beast 
of burden in the Indian archipelago and parts of Asia. Being 

* A specimen of this will be found in the Case of Animal Dyes, No. 162. 



THE YAK, OR GRUNTING OX. 103 

thickset in form, with large members and powerful muscles, two 
•draught animals will draw as much as four ordinary horses or six 
oxen. The flesh is not palatable, and the milk of the female is 
less pleasant than that of the cow, having a musky flavour, but as 
it is abundant, it is sometimes made into cheese. 

From the great size of the buffaloes and most of the oxen in 
Java, the hides and horns are peculiarly valuable. The immense 
•horns of the Java buffalo have long formed an article of European 
.trade, and the hides are sent to China in the hair and untanned. 
J3ali and Lombok supply a great number. The hides available 
for export in Java, are greatly diminished by the singular practice 
.among the inhabitants of that island of using the fresh hide as an 
article of food, nay even esteeming it a dainty beyond any other 
part of the animal. The increased demand for hides as an 
article of commerce has, however, somewhat tended to put an end 
to this taste. 

In Sumatra they dress their meat immediately after killing it, 
while it is still warm, which is conformable with the practice of 
the ancients, as recorded in Homer and elsewhere, and in this 
state it is said to eat tenderer than when kept for a day ; longer 
the climate will not admit of, unless when it is preserved in that 
mode called " dendeng." This is the flesh of the buffalo cut into 
small thin steaks and exposed to the heat of the sun in fine 
weather, generally on the thatch of their houses, till it has become 
so dry and hard as to resist putrefaction without any assistance 
from salt. It is seemingly strange, that heat which, in a certain 
degree promotes putrefaction, should, when violently increased, 
operate to prevent it. A large export trade is carried on in this 
dried meat from the islands of the Eastern Archipelago to China 
.and Siam. 

The Arnee buffalo (Bos Arnee, Shaw — Bubalus Arnce, Smith) 
has horns of a prodigious size and length, which are turned later- 
ally, flattened in front and wrinkled on the concave surface. 

The Yak or grunting ox (Poephagus grunntens), is often 



io 4 USES OF THE YAK. 

handsome and a true bison in appearance. It is met with wild 
in Central Asia, and is the largest native animal of Thibet, in 
various parts of which country it is found Domesticated the 
yak is used as a beast of burden. It is invaluable to the moun- 
taineers of Thibet and other parts of Central Asia from its strength 
and hardiness, accomplishing, at a slow pace, twenty miles a day, 
bearing either two bags of salt or rice, or four to six planks of pine 
wood slung in pairs on either flank. It is ridden especially by 
the fat Lamas, who find its shaggy coat warm, and its paces easy. 
Under these circumstances it is always led. They have spreading 
horns, long silky black hair and grand bushy tails ; black is their 
prevailing colour, but red, dun, parti-coloured, and white are 
common. The hair is spun into ropes, and woven into a covering 
for their tents; the gauze shades for the eyes used in crossing 
snowy passes are made from the same material.* 

The flesh of the young yak, according to Dr. Hooker, is de- 
licious, much richer and more juicy than common veal ; that of 
the old yak is sliced and dried in the sun, forming jerked meat, 
which is eaten raw, the scanty proportion of fat preventing its 
becoming very rancid. Opinions differ as to the quality of the 
meat. Pallas says the flesh is hard and bad tasted; Hue, on 
the contrary, asserts it to be very good. Much of the wealth of 
the people consists in its rich milk and curd, eaten either fresh 
or dried, or powdered into a kind of meal. It forms an im- 
portant article of commerce, and will keep fresh in skins a long 
time. 

The Lepchas eat the flesh and entrails, and singe and fry the 
skin of the yak, and make soup of the bones, leaving nothing but 
the horns and hoofs. They also prepare the flesh as jerked meat, 
cutting it into strips, which they dry on the rocks. This, called 
shat-chew (dried meat), is a very common and palatable food in 
Thibet. 

* The hair and tail of the yak are shown in Case 97.- 



USES OF THE YAK. 



105 



The yak inhabits the southern slope of the Himalayas between 
the 27th and 28th degrees of N. lat, and extends from there to 
Little Thibet or Ladak, Grand Thibet, and the north of China, 
and becomes rare in Mongolia. It is found there, both in 
the wild and domesticated state. The height of the animal 

varies. 

The yak is to the mountaineers of Thibet, what the horse, the 
ass, the cow, and the sheep are to Europe. It furnishes food to 
the inhabitants in its flesh and its milk, it carries heavy burdens, 




THE YAK, OR GRUNTING OX. 



takes to the yoke easy, and serves for agricultural work. From 
its long and abundant fleece is obtained a silky wool, which serves 
to make warm and strong clothing. The furry coat of the young 
animals is curly and woolly, resembling that known as Astracan, 
obtained from a breed of sheep. Very fecund and hardy, they 
resist the most rigorous cold and brave intemperate seasons. 
The inhabitants of Thibet have the same respect for the yak 
which the Brahmins have for the Zebu. 



jo6 CATTLE AS FOOD PROVIDERS. 

The bushy tail of the yak, garnished with handsome hair, more 
fine and soft than that of the horse, is much esteemed in the 
plains of India as a chovvree or fly-flapper, and by the Chinese, 
who dye it bright red or blue for all sorts of ornaments. Among 
the Persians, Turks, and some other Eastern nations, the yak's tail 
is a standard or emblem of authority, and a distinctive mark of 
certain military dignitaries. 

The tail and long hair of the yak occasionally come into com- 
merce in London. 

4. The Musk ox (Ovibos moschatus), is a small but powerful 
animal inhabiting the northern regions of the American continent. 
As it is very scarce and difficult of access, and the flesh is strongly 
impregnated with the flavour of musk, it is not much looked after. 
The calf-skins make excellent robes and caps, but the adult hides 
are almost too hairy for any purpose of that sort ; its hair reaches 
almost to the ground, so that it has rather the appearance of a 
long-haired goat than of a true ox. The hair is matted, somewhat 
•curled and bushy, and in general of a sombre brown colour. The 
tails are made into fly-flappers, similar to those obtained from the 
bison and the yak. 

When the animal is fat, its flesh is said to be excellent ; but at 
certain periods, and especially early in the spring, the strong- 
musky odour renders it unsavoury. In winter the long woolly 
hair is thick and dense, and enables the animal to withstand 
with impunity the severe frosts. If this wool could be easily 
obtained, and in sufficient quantity, it would be much in demand 
for manufacturing uses from its silky character. 

Our Meat Supply from Cattle. — The enhanced consump- 
tion of butchers' meat here, and the advance in price, have be- 
come important considerations, and more especially as to our 
future adequate supply ; the graziers being unable to meet the 
increasing demand. The larger consumption arises from two 
causes, which, in all probability, will continue to operate, namely, 
the increase of our population, at the rate of 1000 per day, and 



OUR MEAT SUPPLY. 107 

the improvement in the social condition of the operative classes, 
consequent upon the enormous extension of commerce and manu- 
factures, and the abundant employment created by railways, 
building operations, and other public works. 

For the daily supply of the metropolis about 4,500 live beasts 
are sent to the London market; 300 tons of dead meat come by 
railway from the North; and the amount sold daily in the Metro- 
politan Dead Meat Market alone is 500 tons. 




EGERLAND COW. BOHEMIA. 



Official returns showed that the annual consumption of meat in 
the kingdom in 1870 was about 96 lbs. per head; this, at the 
wholesale price of Sd. per pound, amounted to 64s. for each person, 
and for the entire population about ^99,000,000. 

Mr. H. S. Thompson in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society," recently estimated the average consumption of meat by 
each person in the United Kingdom at 103 lbs. per annum; for 
in 187 1, 31,700,000 people consumed about 1,500,000 tons. 
This is equal to a demand for 1,300 head of cattle, sheep, and 
pigs every day. In 1872 the average consumption of meat had 



io8 



OUR MEAT SUPPLY. 



risen to 108 lbs. per head. Upwards of ^"220,000,000 is said to 
be invested in live stock in Great Britain and Ireland. 

The number of cattle and calves in the United Kingdom in 
1875 was 10:162,787. Of these, two-sevenths, or about 3,000,000,. 
are supposed to be annually slaughtered, the average weight per 
head all round (for both cattle and calves) being taken at 560 lbs. 
To this has to be added the supply of mutton and pork and other 
animal food, fresh or cured. 

Our annual import of beef, salted or fresh, is about 250,000 cwts.; 
besides which there is a further quantity of undescribed meat 
imported, as shown by the following figures, in cwts. : 



i860. 

Meat— Salted or fresh 1 5,007 

,, Preserved 6,131 



1870. 
84,300 

80,636 



1875. 

144,987 



171,746 

The foreign food supplies, chiefly derived from horned cattle, 
received in 1875, were: salt beef, 181,504 cwts. ; beef fresh or 
slightly salted, 35,000 cwts.; butter, 1,467,000 cwts.; and cheese, 
1,626,413 cwts. 

According to the experiments of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, 
the following is the assumed average per-centage composition of 
the entire carcases of butchers' meat as fattened for slaughter, 
determined by chemical analyses : 



Calf .... 
Bullock 
Lamb . 
Sheep . 



Mineral 
Matters. 


Dry Nitro- 
genous 
Substances. 


Fat. 


Total Dry 

Substances. 


Water. 


4'5 
5*0 

3 '5 
3'5 


i6-5 
150 

II'O 

12-5 


16-5 
30-0 

35*o 
40-0 


37-5 
50 O 

49 '5 
56-0 


62-5 

50*0 

50-5 
44-0 



The actual weight and composition of the carcases in pounds is : 





Total 

Weight. 


Mineral 
Matters. 


Dry Nitro- 
genous 
Substances. 


Fat. 


Total Dry 
Substances. 


Water. 


Calf 


I50 
90O 

45 

90 


6f 

45 

3f 


24i 

135 

5 


24l 

270 

i5l 
36 


56i 
45o 
22^ 

5o| 


93f 

450 
22f 

39f 


Bullock 


Lamb 


Sheep 





COMPOSITION OF FLESH. 



109 



Later investigations by Messrs. Leyder and Pero show that 
during the process of fattening animals the quantity of dry 
material is notably increased, for while in oxen in moderately 
poor condition the water is about two-thirds of its total weight, in 
a fat ox it is only a half. The more nutritious character and 
superior taste of the flesh of a fat animal are due to this increase 







PINZGAU COW, SALZBERG RACE. 



of dry material, but of this increase two-thirds consist in fat; 
the increase of proteids is only from 7 per cent, to 8 per cent., 
and of inorganic materials i| per cent. From a variety of 
analyses the flesh of the fat animal is in every case found richer 
in fixed material than that of the lean animal ; and though the 
flesh of a lean animal possesses a more uniform quality than that 
of a fat one, yet the poorest parts in the fat one possess a higher 
nourishing value than the best in the lean animal. 



no 



DIVISION OF A CARCASE. 



The wholesale price of prime beef per stone of 81b. in the 
Metropolitan Market has been as follows : 

s. a. 

Average price for five years ending 1853 ... 4 2h 

1S63 ... 5 o% 

i873 ». 5 64 

„ Two years, 1874 and 1875 5 8| 

so that there has been an increase of iSd. in price, or an advance 
of 3 5 J per cent, in 22 years. 

The mode of cutting up meat varies in different towns and 
countries. In the carcase of every animal, an ox, for instance, 




there are various qualities of meat, and these are situated in 
different parts of the carcase. All the best parts are in London 
used for roasting and steaks, and the inferior for boiling, or 
making soups, &c. The precision with which expert London 
butchers divide the different qualities of meat from the same car- 
case shows their thorough knowledge of the kinds, and the tastes 
of the grades of customers they have to supply. 

The carcase of an ox is in London cut up into the following 
pieces, as may be seen on referring to the numbers on the 
above cut. 



PROPORTIONS OF A CARCASE. nr 



LONDON MODE OF DIVIDING A CARCASE. 



HIND QUARTER. 

1. Loin. 

2. Rump. 

3. Itch, or adze-bone. 

4. Buttock. 

5. Hock. 

6. Thick flank. 

7. Thin flank. 



FORE QUARTER. 

8. Fore-rib. 

9. Middle-rib. 

10. Chuck-rib. 

11. Brisket. 

12. Leg of mutton piece. 

13. Clod and sticking and neck.. 

14. Shin. 

15. Leg. 



In Paris the butchers estimate the proportion of flesh to the 
weight of the live animal at about 58 per cent. The various 
parts of an animal weighing 600 kilogrammes (1320 lbs.), according: 
to their rule, would be as follows :* 

KILOS. 

Meat 350 

Hide . 50 

Fat 40 

Blood 25 

Feet and hoofs ...... 10 

Head (bones and brains) . . 5 

Tongue 3 

Liver and milt . . . . . . 10 

Lungs and heart ...... 7 

Intestines ....... 30 

Waste, evaporation, &c. .... 70 

600 

Our importation of foreign live cattle is confined to a few 
neighbouring States, owing to the danger and difficulty of longer 
sea voyages, which involve a heavy per-centage of loss by deaths. 

From those countries, too, whence we obtain the largest and 
best supply of cattle and sheep, the exportation appears to have, 
reached its maximum. It was in 1842 that we commenced to 
import live animals, when the number of cattle received from 
abroad was but 4,264. In 1853 the number of cattle received 
was 125,253, and of sheep 259,420. It then declined somewhat 
until 1863, when the cattle imported numbered 150,898 animals,. 

* " Des Halles et Marches," par J, R. De Massy. Paris, 1862. 



ii2 MEAT CONSUMED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 

and in the three following years averaged about 250,000 head 
Since then there have been fluctuations owing to the restraints 
arising from examination for disease on landing. In 1875, 
263,698 head of foreign cattle were imported. 




MARIAHOF COW, STYRIA. 



According to an official report published in 1862, the average 
consumption of butcher's meat in Paris (exclusive of pork) was as 
much as 140 lbs. per head. 

In New York the average consumption of meat per head is 
said to be as high as half a pound per day, which would be at the 
rate of 182 lbs. per annum. But even this is exceeded by the 
consumption in Buenos Ayres, Uruguay, &c, where it is stated 
to average a pound of meat per day. 

The meat production of Russia is not very definitely fixed, but 
an official publication* estimated in 1867 that 3,500,000 head of 
large cattle were annually slaughtered, of which 2,200,000 were 
oxen, and 1,300,000 cows. The number of calves killed was 



* "Apercu Statistique dcs Forces Productives de la Russie," par M. de 
Euschen. Paris, 1867. 



ii 4 CBARQUI OR JERKED MEAl. 

stated at 4,000,000, and of sheep 12,000,000. Allowing, from 
authentic data, each head of cattle to average 450 lbs. of meat and 
60 lbs. of tallow (an ox yields 550 lbs. of meat and 100 lbs. of 
tallow, and a cow 250 to 300 lbs. of meat and 150* lbs. of tallow), 
we have a total of about 703,000 tons of meat, and about 93,750 
tons of tallow.' The four million calves at 80 lbs. each would give 
142,850 tons of meat. Reckoning the sheep at 30 or 40 lbs. of 
mutton each, and 10 lbs. of tallow, we have a further quantity of 
168,700 tons of meat, and 53,570 tons of tallow. 

The average consumption of meat per head in Russia therefore 
cannot be estimated higher than 40 lbs., exclusive of pork. 

In Spain the meat consumption is only 50 lbs. per head in the 
large towns, and half that in the smaller towns ; and yet the 
country possesses large quantities of food-producing animals. 

Dried Meat. — There is a large trade carried on in Brazil and 
the River Plate States in charqui or jerked beef. The exports 
from Buenos Ayres alone average 600,000 to 700,000 cwts. 
yearly. The labouring classes in nearly every part of South 
America and the West Indies live almost exclusively upon this 
jerked beef, which is prepared by cutting the meat into ribbon- 
like pieces, and drying them in the sun with a small addition of 
salt, or by steeping them in a strong pickle for twenty-four hours. 

Most of the saladeros, or slaughter places, supply their wants 
directly from the estancias or cattle farms, whence the animals 
are driven distances varying from twenty to fifty leagues, and 
often farther. The transit of the animals is by no means an 
easy task, as they are generally very wild. In the camp, when 
night comes on, they have to be rounded and watched by 
several men, and it often occurs, particularly in wet weather, 
accompanied by thunder and lightning, that a "stampede" takes 
place, the animals breaking loose and giving no end of trouble 
to be caught again. It therefore not unfrequently happens 
that there are several animals missing before the troop arrives 
* This must be a misprint in the official work for 50 lbs. 



SUN-DRIED MEATS. 115 

:at its destination, for which risk and work the party who con- 
tracts to deliver them is paid about Ss. per animal. The first 
cost ranges from £2 Ss. to £$ 4 s - P er head, and the total ex- 
penses on the beast from the time it is placed in the saladero 
until its produce is shipped, including lighterage and export duty, 
1 6s. per head. 

On arrival at the saladero the animals are driven into 
enclosures, called " corrales," and are slaughtered as soon as 
possible. 

In Brazil the heat of the climate precludes the salting of beef 
in large pieces or joints. The province of Rio Grande do Sul, 
which enjoys a most temperate climate, is the seat of the charque- 
•adas or slaughtering establishments, and produces great quan- 
tities of the " carnas do sertaon," or meats for the interior, suffi- 
cient for home consumption, and even for exportation. Each 
animal yields about one hundredweight and a half of dried beef ; 
300,000 to 400,000 cwts. are sent annually to Cuba for the black 
population. Chili ships about 4,000 to 5,000 cwts. of this 
char qui or sun-dried beef. 

This custom of drying meat in the sun is, as we have seen, 
carried on in the East, and also practised in Africa, for Capt. 
Burton, in his " Lake Regions of Central Africa/' states : 

" The African preserves his meat by placing large lumps upon a 
little platform of green reeds, erected upon uprights about 18 
inches high, and by smoking it with a slow fire. Thus prepared, 
and with the addition of a little salt, the provision will last for 
several days, and the porters will not object to increase their loads 
by three or four pounds of the article, disposed upon a long stick 
like gigantic kababs. They also jerk their stores by exposing the 
meat upon a rope, or spread upon a flat stone, for two or three 
days in the sun ; it loses a considerable portion of nutriment, but 
it packs into a conveniently small compass. This jerked meat, 
when dried, broken into small pieces, and stored in gourds, or 
in pots full of clarified and melted butter, forms the celebrated 



n6 DAIRY PRODUCTS FROM CATTLE. 

travelling provision in the East called kavurmek : it is eaten as a 
relish with rice and other boiled grains." 

Dairy Products. — Having dealt with the flesh of cattle used 
as food, we come now to consider briefly the milk, butter, and 
cheese, which are furnished by cows. 

Milk. — In various countries different animals have been used 
to provide milk for the use of man ; in fact, it seems probable that 
every domestic animal except those which are carnivorous has 
been put to this service. Besides the cow, from which our principal 
supplies are provided, the following animals are used in their re- 
spective countries. The goat in most mountainous regions, to 
some extent in England, and in parts of Switzerland ; the sheep 
in several pastoral countries, and in former times occasionally in 
England ; the reindeer in Lapland ; the camel by the Bedouins 
and others who use this animal ; the sow in China ; the mare by 
many Central Asian tribes ; the ass commonly in various countries. 

The Laplanders preserve the milk of the reindeer in frozen 
pieces like cheese. When melted, after a lapse of several months, 
it still tastes fresh and good. When a stranger enters their dwelling 
whom they wish to welcome, the frozen piece of milk is imme- 
diately set to the fire ; the guest receives a spoon, with which he 
skims off the softened exterior as it melts; when he has had 
enough the rest is preserved in the cold for other guests. 

The milk of the buffalo is like that of the cow. Goats' milk 
stands next to these in its qualities, and is much used in 
Southern Europe. The milk of the ewe is richer than that of the 
cow in fat, and contains rather more sugar than that of other 
animals. The Calmucks, and most of the tribes of Central Asia, 
prepare a beverage from camel's and mare's milk, which is also 
fermented and distilled into an alcoholic beverage. This koumis, 
as it is termed, has lately been recommended medicinally in this 
country. The milk of the mare is inferior in oily matter to that 
of the cow, but contains a fair proportion of sugar and other salts. 
The milk of the ass approaches that of human milk in several of 



MILK OF VARIOUS ANIMALS. 



ii 



its qualities, and is recommended for invalids in pulmonary com- 
plaints. Camel's milk is poor in every respect, but is employed 
in countries where the animal flourishes. Every preparation of 
milk, and every separate ingredient of it, is wholesome. 

Milk, Captain Burton tells us, is held in high esteem by all 
the tribes of Central Africa. It is consumed in three forms — 
fresh; converted into butter-milk; and in the shape of curded 




KUHLAND COW, MORAVIA. 



milk. The latter is everywhere a favourite on account of its 
thirst- quenching properties, and the people accustomed to it from 
infancy have for it an excessive longing. It is procurable in 
every village where cows are kept, whereas that newly drawn is 
generally half soured from being at once stored in the earthen 
pots used for curding it. Buttermilk is procurable only in those 
parts of the country where the people have an abundance of 
cattle. 

The aggregate consumption of milk in the United Kingdom is 
very large, and may be roughly estimated at a quart a week for 
•each person. At this rate 812,500 gallons would be required for 



n8 CONSUMPTION OF BUTTER. 

the weekly supply of London alone, with its population of 
3,250,000. The average yield of milch kine is variously esti- 
mated, ranging between 2 quarts and 20 quarts a day ; assume- 
8 quarts as a fair average, about 406,250 cows are required 
to furnish the metropolitan supply alone, and the consumers 
must pay more than 3 J millions sterling per annum for milk in 
London. 

In Paris, even with its smaller population, the aggregate con- 
sumption of milk is larger than in London. In i860 it was 
returned at over 300,000 quarts daily. 

Milk, in the language of the dairyman, is composed of three 
substances — butter, cheese, and whey; and to separate the two 
former from the latter is one of the chief occupations of the dairy. 
A quart of milk of fair average quality should weigh 2 lbs. 2^ 
ounces. 

Butter. — The usual allowance of butter to domestic servants is 
half a pound per week, but if we assume a consumption of only 20 lbs. 
yearly, for each individual of two-thirds of the population, this would 
require a total supply of 200,000 tons a year, and our home pro- 
duction must be fully 130,000 tons. We import now about 
80,000 tons of foreign butter, for which we pay more than 
^8,500,000 sterling. In 1858 the consumption of foreign butter- 
was only 1-52 lb. per head, now it is as much as 5*51 lbs. per 
head of the population. The quantity received from abroad has 
not varied much of late years ; the average imports are about 
i| million cwts. Foreign butters from Holland and France 
are preferred to the Irish butter, because they are so fresh and 
scrupulously clean; Irish butter often contains hair and dirt of 
various kinds, as well as too much salt and brine. Irish butter is 
sub-divided into six qualities or classes. 

In Paris the consumption of butter in 1850 was only about 
18,000,000 lbs.; in i860 it had increased to 30,400,000 lbs., being 
an average of 25 lbs. per head per annum for the population. In 
the first rank stands the butter of Isigny, which includes not only 



120 IRISH BUTTER. 

the butter made in the locality of the Department of La Manche, 
from which it takes its name, but also the superior butters of 
Normandy and Calvados. After this comes the Gournay butter, 
made in the departments of Eure and Seine-Inferieure. The 
salted butter comes from Brittany, especially Morlaix, Rennes, 
Nantes, and Vannes. 

The quality of butter, either as regards its keeping properties 
or otherwise, is affected by the weather, by the condition of the 
milk, the description of cattle, by the pasture, by the size, airiness 
and convenience of the dairies, and very much by the sort of fuel 
used in the district ; for where peat or turf is burned, the butter 
generally takes a flavour from it. Butter intended for keeping 
ought to be thoroughly freed from the milk in making, the cream 
being in good condition, and not injured by heat, and the butter 
should be made close in grain, firm, and not too rich. Such butter 
does not require the great quantity of salt that is necessary for 
butter not possessing those keeping properties. 

Munster is the great butter-producing province of Ireland, Cork 
being the seat and centre of the trade, especially the foreign, 
which from many causes, it entirely monopolises. Waterford is 
a great butter shipping port, and Limerick and Belfast also 
supply considerable and increasing quantities for the English 
market. The butter of the above three towns is more adapted 
than that of Cork for immediate consumption from its lighter 
cure, less salt being used in its preparation ; whereas the Cork 
butter, being more heavily salted, can be preserved much longer 
than the others. 

The receipts of butter in the chief Irish markets have steadily 
increased of late years, at least one-third being destined for foreign 
consumption. The principal foreign trade is with Brazil, Por- 
tugal, the West Indies, and the Mediterranean, and large ship- 
ments are also made to Melbourne. The great Irish foreign trade 
in butter is now with Brazil. 

The average amount of butter from milk in summer is rather 



122 DUTCH BUTTER. 

more than an ounce to a quart, or from 1 6 quarts of milk to 1 7 to 
18 ozs. of butter. 

The yield of butter from a good cow ought to be a pound per 
day, and double this quantity has been produced for a limited 
period. In Holland each cow, after being some time at grass,, 
yields about one Dutch pound (17 J ozs.) per day. 

There are three distinct kinds of butter manufactured in 
Holland. The butter made from the cream when the cows are 
at the grass in summer, called grass hitter ; the butter from the 
whey of the sweet-milk cheese, called whey hitter ; and the butter 
made in winter, when the cows are in the byre, called hay butter. 
Grass butter is made in the following manner. The cows being 
carefully milked to the last drop, the copper pitchers, lined with 
brass, or pitchers entirely of brass, which contain the milk, are 
put into an oblong water-tight pit, called a koelback, built of brick 
or stone, about six feet in length, three in breadth, and two in 
depth, into which cold water has been previously pumped, there 
being generally a pump at one end. In this pit or cooler the 
pitchers stand two hours, the milk being frequently stirred. This 
cooling process is of great advantage in causing the cream to 
separate rapidly and abundantly from the milk. The milk is then 
run through horse-hair searchers or strainers, and is put into flat 
milk dishes of earthenware, copper, or wood. After remaining 
in a cool milk-house or cellar for twenty-four hours, it is skimmed, 
and the cream is collected in a tub or barrel. When soured, and 
if there is a sufficient quantity from the number of cows, they 
churn every twenty-four hours, the churn being half-filled with the 
sour cream. A little warm water, near the boiling point, is added 
in winter to give the whole the proper degree of heat, and in very- 
warm weather the cream is first cooled in the koelback, or cooler. 
In many small farm houses, or when the cows give little milk, the 
milk is not skimmed, but the whole when soured is put into the 
churn ; the butter, immediately after being taken out, is put into a 
shallow tub called a vloot, and then carefully washed with pure 



ARTIFICIAL BUTTERS. 125 

cold water. It is then worked with a light sprinkling of finely 
ground salt, whether for immediate use or for the barrel ; there 
being none made entirely fresh or without salt, as in Scotland and 
England. If intended for barrelling, the butter is worked up, 
twice or thrice a day, with soft fine salt, for three days in a flat 
tub, there being about two pounds of this salt allowed to fourteen 
pounds of butter ; the butter is then hard packed by thin layers 
into the casks, which casks are previously carefully seasoned and 
cleaned. They are always of oak, well-smoothed inside. Before 
being used, they are allowed to stand three or four days filled with 
sour whey, and afterwards carefully washed out and dried. Hay 
butter undergoes the same process, being of course the butter 
made in winter, but although inferior in flavour and colour, it has 
none of the disagreeable taste which the turnip imparts to much of 
the winter butter of this country. Whey butter is made from the 
whey of the sweet-milk cheeses. The whey, being collected from 
the curd and the pressed cheese, is allowed to stand three days or 
a week according to the quantity ; the cream is either skimmed off 
or churned, or the whey itself is put into churn, and the butter is 
formed in about half an hour. In winter the butter obtained by 
the process is about 1 lb. per cow per week, and in summer about 
1 \ lb. per cow per week. 

Without giving credence to all the exaggerated statements of 
the quantity of artificial butters foisted on the market, there is 
too much reason to believe that melted tallow largely takes the 
place of genuine butter in the retail trade. Very many factories 
for preparing artificial butter have been started on the Continent 
and in America. When people come to know that rancid butter 
is as certainly poisonous as rancid tallow, they will be more 
cautious about eating it. 

If a mass of crude animal fat be heated to a temperature not 
exceeding 120 Fah. the whole of it will melt, and the product 
be perfectly odourless, and available for domestic and cooking 
purposes. Microscopic examination with polarised light is the 



i2 4 RUDE MODES OF CHURNING BUTTER. 

most reliable means of distinguishing pure butter from that which 
contains an admixture of other less palatable fats. 

To render butter capable of being kept for any length of time 
in a fresh condition, that is, as a pure solid oil, all that is necessary 
is to boil it in a pan till the water is removed, which is marked by 
the cessation of violent ebullition. By allowing the liquid oil to 
stand for a little, the curd subsides, and the oil may then be 
poured off, or it may be strained through calico or muslin into 
a bottle and corked up. When it is to be used it may be gently 
heated and poured out of the bottle, or cut out by means of a 
knife or cheese gouge. This is the usual method of preserving 
butter on the Continent, and also ghee in India. 

Ghee is the clarified butter of Hindostan. It is produced 
generally from the milk of buffaloes, and is universally used in 
native cookery. As an article of commerce ghee possesses some 
claims to importance, many thousands of mounds (So lbs.) being 
sent every season from some of the grazing districts to the more 
cultivated parts, especially to the western provinces. It is gene- 
rally conveyed in dubbers, or large bottles made of green hide. 

In Brazil there are four native modes of making butter. The 
first is, putting the milk in a common bowl, and beating it with 
a. spoon as you would an egg. The second, pouring the milk into 
a bottle, and shaking it until the butter appears, when it is extri- 
cated by breaking off the top of the bottle, for bottles are valueless 
in that part of South America, on account of the number imported 
with fruits and liquids. The third, where the dairy is more exten- 
sive, is performed by filling a hide with the milk, which is lustily 
shaken by an athletic native at each end. The fourth by dragging 
the hide on the ground, after a galloping horse, until it is supposed 
that the butter is formed. The milk is never strained, and the butter 
never washed. The greater part of the butter used in the cities is 
imported from Ireland, France, or Germany, and this, notwith- 
standing that thousands of cows graze on the vast pampas in 
South America. 



FOREIGN SUPPLIES OF BUTTER. 



«S 



In Chili the butter is packed in sheepskins with the wool out,, 
and would be very good in spite of appearances, were it not so 
much salted. The operation of churning is performed by a 
donkey; the cream is put into large gourds or dry skins, placed 
on its back, and then the animal is kept trotting round the yard 
till the butter is churned. 

In Morocco the butter is churned by women in a bag of goat- 
skin, which, when nearly filled with milk, is closed by tying the 
mouth tightly. The bag is then rolled about and kneaded till 
butter is formed. 

The principal countries in Europe which export butter are the; 
following, with the shipments made in 1873 : 

Cwts. 

Holland 332,691 

Sweden 69,815 

Denmark . . . ... 227,308 



In France the butter exported in 1874 was 726,825 cwt, valued 
at more than ;£ 3,400,000. Canada exports annually about 
140,000 cwts., and the United States a large quantity, of which 
we have no specific details. 

The receipts of foreign butter in the United Kingdom in 1874, 
were larger than usual, and derived from the following countries : 



Sweden 

Denmark 

Germany 

Holland . ' . 

Belgium 

France . 

United States of America 

British North America 

Other countries . 



Cwts. 

23,292 
226,053 
135,027 
351,605 

76,723 
713,251 

36,307 

50,282 
7,268 

,619,808 



126 VARIETIES OF CHEESE, 

Cheese, as is well known, consists principally of the casein of 
milk. The process of making it need not be described in detail 
here. Suffice it to say that the milk, at a temperature of about 
i2o° Fah., is curdled by rennet, when the curd and a certain pro- 
portion of the fat separates, is strained from the whey, in which 
the milk-sugar still remains, and reduced by pressure to the more 
or less solid condition in which cheese is used. The chief differ- 
ences in the various sorts of cheese are produced by the amount 
of cream or fatty matter left in the milk. 

There is of course far greater variety in cheese than in butter, 
as cheeses vary from the pure cream cheeses made of cream only, 
which must be eaten fresh and will not keep, down to the skim- 
milk cheeses, which contain only a small proportion of fatty 
matter at all. Cheeses from skim-milk vary according to the num- 
ber of skimmings • such are Dutch, Leyden, and Suffolk cheeses. 
Besides the differences caused by varying amounts of cream, are 
those produced by special methods of manufacture, by mixing 
cow's and goat's milk, etc. 

The quality of cheese depends chiefly upon the milk of which 
it is made ; the best containing a considerable portion of the 
constituents of butter. The Stilton cheese of England and the 
Brie cheese of France have a world-wide reputation, and are 
made from fresh sweet milk mixed with cream skimmed from 
milk of the preceding evening. The Cheshire, double Gloucester, 
Cheddar, Wiltshire, and Dunlop cheeses of Great Britain, are 
made of sweet unskimmed milk; as are also the best Dutch 
and American. Skim milk yields nearly as much cheese as 
sweet milk, as it contains all the casein. The ordinary Dutch, 
the Leyden, and the hard cheese of Essex and Sussex counties, 
are made of milk thrice skimmed. 

Although the usual Dutch cheese is made of the skimmed milk, 
there are finer kinds made for home consumption, with a portion of 
the cream left in the milk. The most prized is the " schapekase," 
or ewe's milk cheese, which sells at a higher price. Gouda 



123 PROPERTIES OF CHEESE. 

cheese, the best sort made in Holland, owes its peculiar pungency 
to the muriatic acid used instead of rennet for curdling the milk. 
Swiss cheese is usually made from skim-milk, and flavoured with 
herbs. There are, of course, richer cheeses, such as the Neuf- 
chatel and Bondon, of the nature of cream cheese. In Westphalia 
cheese the curd is allowed to become slightly soured before it is 
compressed. The Italian cheese which is prepared for exportation 
is kept in brine, and is consequently excessively salt. It is only- 
intended as a condiment for macaroni. 

The poorer the cheese is, the longer it will keep, but every 
variety, if well cleared from whey and sufficiently salted, may be 
preserved for years. 

Parmesan cheese owes its rich flavour to the fine sweet herbage 
of the meadows along the Po, where the cows are pastured. Dutch 
and Swiss cheeses contain, according to chemical analysis, from 
twenty to forty per cent, of nitrogenised matter, considered the 
most nutritive constituent of food. The best cheese is from 
twenty-five to a hundred per cent, more nutritious than bread or 
meat, which contains only about two per cent, of nitrogen. 

The quantities of carbon and nitrogen in one pound of mode- 
rately good cheese are (according to Dr. Smith " On Foods") 2660 
grains of the former and 315 grains of the latter, showing how 
rich this substance is in nitrogen. 

To delicate stomachs cheese is objectionable on account of its 
slow and difficult digestion ; but to individuals of great physical 
strength, it is a healthful and agreeable article of consumption. 
In combustible or heat-giving qualities, cheese is only exceeded 
by oil, butter, and like unctuous substances. 

Cheese as an animal food may with advantage be substituted 
for butcher's meat at the current prices. There are good and 
substantial reasons for regarding cheese as a wholesome and 
valuable food, and it is worthy of even a more liberal consumption 
than it now receives. English people probably consume more 
cheese than any other nation on the globe, namely, in the pro- 



IMPORTS OF FOREIGN CHEESE. 



129 



portion of about ten pounds yearly to each inhabitant. In the 
United States the consumption is about half that quantity. Be- 
sides being, when properly used, a wholesome and nutritious diet, 
and richer in nutritious value than butcher's meat or any other 
animal food, its peculiar ability to enhance the value and improve 
the healthfulness of the food with which it is consumed ; the aid 
it renders in digestion, its readiness for use at all times without 
loss or trouble in cooking ; its convenient form for handling and 
transporting ; the ease and certainty with which it may be pre- 
served for many months without loss or injury that occurs to 
other food from an excess of salt : — all these commend it to the 
favour of the public. In the army and navy, especially, it would 
be not only a luxury to soldiers and sailors, but a cheap, healthful, 
and substantial substitute for the continued use of salt meat. 

The imports of foreign made cheese have been largely on the 
increase year by year, and have now reached about 81,300 tons 
while the home production is probably 100,000 tons. 

The following figures give the imports at decennial periods, 
showing that our imports nearly double every ten years : 

Cvvts. 

1855 3S4>I92 

1865 853,277 

1875 1,626,413 

The countries from which we receive our supplies, are shown in 
the return for 1874 : 

Cvvts. 

Holland 398,888 

France 5,487 

Germany . . . . .4,383 

Belgium ...... 1,625 

Sweden ...... 3,132 

United States of America . . 849,933 
British North America . . . 221,043 
Other countries 774 

1,485,265 

K. 



130 PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION OF CHEESE. 

The declared value of this quantity was close upon ^4,500,000. 
Very little of this cheese was re-exported, nearly all being used in 
this country. 

In Paris the consumption of cheese of all kinds, fresh and dry, 
in i860 exceeded 8,000.000 pounds, which was an average of 
about seven or eight pounds per head of the population. 

The principal cheese-producing countries are the United States 
and Canada, Holland, Switzerland, and Bavaria. 

In the United States the production of cheese in 1850 was but 
1,000,000 cwts., now it is more than double that amount; indeed 
the combined production of Canada and the United States in 1875 
exceeded 3,000,000 cwts. It takes there a little over a gallon of 
milk to make a pound of cheese. 

The exports of cheese from the United States in 1873 were 
nearly 1,000,000 cwts., and from Canada 174,000 cwts. ; Holland 
exports from 500,000 to 600,000 cwts. annually; Switzerland 
shipped 392,153 cwts. in 1873. 

The exports of cheese from France in 1874 were 182,353 cwt., 
valued at over ^5 5 0,000, but all this was not French cheese. 

Bavaria holds a position of importance for its production of 
cheese and butter. The cheese made is of a similar character to 
that of Switzerland, and is generally sold as such in Austria, 
France, and other countries. The production of cheese and 
butter from each cow on the dairy farms of the Allgars, the 
pastoral district, is computed at about 184 pounds, and the 
total production of cheese at 11,029 tons, and of butter 2,386 
tons. 

Rennet. — In cheese-making, the milk may be coagulated or 
curdled by the application of any sort of acid, but the substance 
which is most commonly used is the maws or stomachs of young 
calves, prepared for the purpose. These are generally denominated 
" rennets," but they are also often provincially called " veils/' and 
in Scotland, "yearnings." In France the rennet is known as 
presure, or caillette de veau. Some people save the entire paunch, 



RENNET AND ITS PREPARATION ' 131 

whereas it is only the fourth or true digesting stomach of the 
young calf that properly makes a rennet. The calf must be per- 
fectly healthy, must have suckled the cow for at least four or five 
days, and to within a short time of killing. If it has been without 
food for any length of time, the stomach becomes inflamed, and 
especially so if the calf has been driven or carried a distance, and 
then it is of no value for rennet. The stomach should be taken 
out and well cleaned at once after the calf is killed, and, as soon 
as cold, is to be salted and left to dry on a dish for a day or two, 
then stretched on a hoop or crooked stick, and hung up to dry in 
a place where the temperature is moderately warm. The Bavarian 
method is to blow up the rennet like a bladder, and tie one end 
to keep out air, first putting on it a little salt at the place where 
tied. The skins being thus made very thin, will dry rapidly and 
keep well. Sometimes they are suspended in paper bags. 

This prepared stomach, or rennet, when steeped in water, 
produces a decoction which possesses the power of thickening 
milk — decomposing it, and separating the casein from the liquid 
or whey. The most convenient way to prepare the rennet for use 
is to place the stomach in a stoneware jar with two handfuls of 
salt ; pour about three quarts of cold water over it, and allow the 
whole to stand for five days ; then strain and put it into bottles, 
or the rennet may be soaked over night in warm water, and next 
morning the infusion is poured into the milk. In from fifteen to 
sixty minutes the milk becomes coagulated, the casein separating 
in a thick mass. The rennet possesses the chemical property of 
producing lactic acid, by acting upon the sugar in the milk. The 
acid unites with the soda in the milk, which holds the casein in 
solution, when the casein, which is insoluble, separates, forming 
the curd. If we take an ounce of this membrane and wash and 
dry it thoroughly, and then put it into eighteen hundred 
ounces of milk, heated to 120 Fah., we shall find that in a short 
time coagulation of the milk is complete. If we remove the 
membrane from the curd, again wash, dry, and weigh it, it will be 



i 3 2 RENNET— PEP SINE. 

found that it has lost only about one seventeenth part of its weight. 
It is thus proved that one part of the active matter of the stomach 
has coagulated about thirty thousand parts of the milk. Hence 
we obtain some idea of the small quantity of rennet required to 
influence a large quantity of milk, and it would seem that com- 
paratively little of the article would be required in the largest 
cheese factories. But such is not the case. The traffic in 
calves' rennets is immense in all cheese-producing countries, 
and the supply in North America from the millions of calves 
which are slaughtered is found wholly inadequate to meet the 
demand. The home supply falls short of furnishing to their 
cheese factories enough rennets by several millions annually ; 
and consequently they are largely imported from Europe, but 
from all sources a sufficient supply of good, sound, healthy 
rennets is scarcely obtained. In France a good deal of rennet 
is procured from Switzerland. 

An animal product has of late years become utilised under the 
name of Pepsine, which is the dried mucous membrane of calves' 
or sheep's rennets, the stomach of pigs and other vertebrate 
animals ; it contains the active principle of the gastric juice, and 
is medicinally recommended to assist weak digestion. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OTHER ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF CATTLE. 

Having dealt with the food products of cattle, we come now to consider 
the various other substances of importance which they yield that 
are extensively utilised for Manufactures. This chapter, therefore, 
treats of Horns and hoofs and their commercial applications in the 
comb manufacture, and for horn buttons j we then pass on to 
Bones and their multifarious uses, the trade in Tallow and other 
animal oils and fats, and their application to the manufacture of 
soap, candles, and other purposes; thence we ai r e led to a survey of 
the enormous commerce in Hides and the various stages of the 
Leather manufacture generally, and the tanning substances used, 
while parchment and vellum, bookbiiiding, and the m iscellaneous 
applications of leather, are incidentally noticed. Finally the uses of 
offal, gut, and bladder, blood, cow-hair, and the glue manufacture 
are touched upon. 

The raw materials for Manufactures derived from cattle, which 
we import (exclusive of the large home production), consist of 
about 1,300,000 cwts. of hides, either in the dried or salted state ; 
6,000 tons of horns and hoofs ; 74,000 cwts. of cow hair ; 92,000 
tons of bones; and 1,250,000 cwts. of tallow (some of which is 
sheep's tallow). Of the raw hides (exclusive of leather prepared 
in any way), the ratio in which the different countries contribute 
is, in round numbers, as follows : the South American States, 
408,000 cwts. ; India and the Straits Settlements, 320,000 cwts.; 
Europe, 267,000 cwts. ; the United States, 126,000 cwts. ; South 
Africa, 82,000 cwts. ; and Australia, 22,000 cwts. 

Horns and Hoofs. — The horns of animals, wild and do- 
mestic, may seem of but secondary importance at a first glance, 
and yet the trade in them rises to a very respectable figure in the 
statistical returns. 



i 3 4 USES OF HORNS AND HOOFS. 

Our annual imports of horns, horn tips, and hoofs, average 
now 6000 tons, valued at about ^173,000, besides the supply 
from our domestic cattle. This is double the amount of our 
imports a quarter of a century ago. 

The study of the composition, formation, and growth of horn 
is an interesting one and well deserving careful investigation, 
in view of the manufacturing purposes to which this material may 
be applied.* 

In common parlance any hard body projecting from the head, 
terminating in a free unopposed point, and serviceable as a weapon, 
is called a " horn." But the composition of these differs materially. 
Professor Owen well observes : 

" The weapons to which the term ' horn ' is properly or techni- 
cally applied, consist of very different substances, and belong to 
two organic systems, as distinct from each other as both are from 
the teeth. Thus the horns of deer consist of bone, and are 
processes of the frontal bone ; those of the giraffe are independent 
bones or ' epiphyses ' covered by hairy skin ; those of oxen, sheep, 
and antelopes, are ' apophyses ' of the frontal bone, covered by 
the corium, and by a sheath of true horny material ; those of the 
prong-horned antelope consist at their basis of bony processes 
covered by hairy skin, and are covered by horny sheaths in the 
rest of their extent. They thus combine the character of those of 
the giraffe and ordinary antelope, together with the expanded 
and branched form of the antlers of deer. Only the horns of the 
rhinoceros are composed wholly of horny matter, and this is 
disposed in longitudinal fibres ; so that the horn seems rather to 
consist of coarse bristles compactly matted together in the form of 
a more or less elongated sub -compressed cone." 

It is commonly believed that the horns of the ox acquire an 
additional ring every year after the third, but the addition of 
annuli is far from being regular in other species. Many rings are 

* There is a very fine and extensive collection of horns and heads of all the 
principal ruminants shown on the walls of the Bethnal Green Museum. 



HORNS OF ANIMALS. 135 

gained in one year's growth of the ram's horns, and in those of 
some antelopes. 

The length of the horn forms a distinguishing characteristic in 
some breeds of cattle ; but whatever improvements may have 
been effected in the form and character of the carcase by the 
modification of food and habits, it does not appear that we have 
been able to superinduce any improvement or alteration in the 
size or texture of the horns. Indeed the horns of wild animals 
would seem to be more prominent than in the domesticated races. 
Some African tribes, such as the Makololo, are in the habit of 
shaving off a little from one side of the horns of their cattle when 
still growing, in order to make them curve in that direction and 
assume fantastic shapes. The stranger the curvature, the more 
handsome the ox is considered to be, and the longer this orna- 
ment of the cattle pen is spared to beautify the herd. This is a 
very ancient custom in Africa, for the tributary tribes of Ethiopia 
are seen on some of the most ancient Egyptian monuments, 
bringing contorted-horned cattle into Egypt. 

The rights and privileges of the "horn-workers" and "horn- 
pressers " in former times occupied the prominent attention of the 
Legislature. But there is no fear in the present day " of the trade 
being ruined, and the business lost to the nation," as was the cry 
when the statutes 6 Edward IV. c. 1, and 7 James I. c. 14 were 
passed, forbidding the sale of horns to foreigners, and prohibiting 
the export of our wrought horns. 

The invention of horn lanterns has been by some ascribed to 
King Alfred, who is said to have first used them to preserve his 
candle time-measurers from the wind. The Romans preferred 
lantern lights of the horns of the wild ox to others. They also 
used thin skins and closely shaved hides for lantern leaves, 
which, Martial says, very much resembled those of horn. A 
lantern in the last century was an indispensable family article ; 
there was no going into the yard or out of the door on dark nights 
without one. A piece of horn was sometimes placed over the 



136 APPLICATIONS OF HORN. 

title of mediaeval MSS. to preserve the letters from injury, while 
the transparent material allowed them to be read. The child's 
horn-book of later times had its leaves of alphabet and spelling 
covered entirely with thin sheets of this material.""' 

Although the principal manufacturing applications of horn are 
for combs, umbrella tops, and knife handles, yet there are other 
uses as extensive and varied as the descriptions of horn which 
come into the market, or bristle on the head of the animals 
characterised by these frontal appendages. Ox, buffalo, and deer 
horns, are those mostly worked up, but the horns of the rhinoceros, 
ram, goat, and some other animals, are also employed to a limited 
extent for different purposes. Rams' horns are sometimes made 
into snuff holders, or mulls, for the Scotch. One of these will be 
found in Case 168. Their characteristic appearance is well 
known ; we give on the opposite page a representation of the fine 
horns of the white-breasted Argali of Thibet, which bear a close 
resemblance to them. We shall here speak chiefly of the horns 
of cattle, leaving the others for description when we come to treat 
of the animals producing them. 

The horns of the ox and buffalo are never shed, they are 
deposited in layers or bony cores, so that their general form is 
conical. Horns of various kinds form an extensive article of 
export from India; in 1872, 97,000 cwts., valued at more than 
^65,000, were shipped from Indian ports ; and in 1873 the quan- 
tity was even larger, the value being ^94,694. 

The immense horns of the African ox, or Cape buffalo, and of 
the Java buffalo, and the Arnee buffalo of India, are the most 
valuable, and the extent of the trade in this class of horns may be 
estimated from the fact that about 2500 tons are annually received 
from British India, and 350 tons from the Straits Settlements, 
exclusive of those from Java and the other islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago, and these would represent a slaughter of 2,000,000 

* Specimens of these may b2 seen in the Educational Court, South 
Kensington Museum. 



THE COMMERCE IN HORNS. 



137 



cattle annually. The horns of the tame buffalo are much smaller 
than those of the wild animal. 

From 800 to 900 tons of horns are received from the United 
States, and large imports from South America, and Australia. 
About one fifth of the supply of ox and buffalo horns is used up 
for comb making, and some for knife and cutlass handles, while 
a small portion is made into shoe lifts, scoops, cattle drenches, 
drinking cups, &c. The solid tips and the hoofs of cattle, 




ARGALI (OVIS POLl). 



which are composed of the same material as horn, are pressed 
into buttons.* 

About 400 tons of horns are received annually in England from 
the River Plate ; 1000 horns are usually reckoned as a measure- 
ment ton in shipping, but they are frequently freighted by weight ; 
it will take nearly 2000 to weigh a ton. Those from Spain of a 
light yellowish colour serve to imitate tortoise-shell ; the imitation 
is effected by solutions of gold, silver, and lead. 

Mr. Hadfield in his " Travels in Brazil," tells us that at Rosario 
and Santa Fe on the Parana, streets and roads are repaired with 

* Cases 168 and 169 are devoted to ox-horn and buffalo-horn applications. 



138 MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS OF HORN 

heads and horns of cows and horses. In the Pampas the skull of 
a horse or cow serves for a stool, a chair, or a pillow, as the case 
may be. In a certain district in the suburbs of Lassa, the capital of 
Thibet, the houses are built entirely with the horns of cattle and 
sheep. These odd edifices are of extreme solidity, and present a 
rather agreeable appearance to the eye ; the horns of the cattle 
being smooth and white, and those of the sheep black and rough. 
These strange materials admit of a wonderful diversity of combi- 
nations, and form on the walls an infinite variety of designs. The 
interstices between the horns are filled with mortar. Great 
pyramids of horns and bones have been formed on some of the 
prairies of North America by the hunters. 

At one of the branches of the Upper Missouri there is such a 
pyramid, 18 feet high by 15 feet in diameter, made of elk horns, 
every hunter who passes making a practice of contributing his 
quota to the stock by way of good luck. 

Manufacturing Applications of Horn. — While many of 
the former uses of horns for glazing purposes, for drinking cups, 
for horn-books, and for the bugle of the bold forester, have passed 
away, other and more elegant and varied applications have been 
found for this plastic and durable substance. Extensive as is the 
present use of horns, we believe that many further manufacturing 
purposes may be found for them, and that they will become even 
still more important in a commercial point of view. 

They receive a great variety of applications at the present day, 
owing to their toughness and elasticity, as well as their remark- 
able property of softening under heat, of welding, and of being 
moulded into various forms under pressure. 

To apply horns to manufactures they are treated as follows : — 
They are first thrown into water, and slight putrefaction com- 
mences, by which ammonia is produced, when the horn begins to 
soften. To carry this action further, the horns are transferred 
into a slight acid bath composed of nitric and acetic acids, with 
a. small quantity of various salts. When the horns are sufficiently 



COMB MANUFACTURE. 139 

softened, which requires about two weeks, they are cleaned and 
split into two parts by means of a circular saw, and these are 
introduced between heated plates, and the whole subjected to an 
intense pressure of severa] tons to the square inch. The plates 
may be moulds, and thus the horn can be compressed into 
any required shape. A great improvement has of late years 
been effected in this branch of manufacture, which consists 
in dyeing the horn various colours. To accomplish this, the 
horn is first dipped in a bath containing a weak solution of 
salts of lead or mercury, and when the horns have been thus 
impregnated with metallic salts, a solution of hydro-sulphate of 
ammonia is rubbed on them, when a black or brown dye is 
produced. 

Another method consists in mordanting the horn with a salt of 
iron, and dipping it in a solution of logwood. Very beautiful 
white fancy articles have been produced from horn, by dipping it 
first into a salt of lead, and then into hydrochloric acid, when 
white chloride of lead is fixed in the interstices of the horn, which 
then simply requires polishing. 

Comb Manufacture. — The most important use to which horn 
is put is for the manufacture of combs, and the annual value of 
horn combs made in this country is estimated at 400,000/. 

The comb manufacture is pre-eminently conducive to national 
wealth, because therein the value of the raw product is greatly 
multiplied. The skilled labour placed on tortoise-shell increases 
it in value about 40 per cent, while horn (the generally used 
product) so favoured, advances 200 per cent. This latter, rough, 
unattractive substance, is split and heated, bent and planed, 
triturated and polished, pressed and carved and fretted, till at 
length it is sent forth into polite society, reduced to the most 
fairy-like proportions, elegant in its surroundings, having a highly 
polished exterior, a beautiful set of teeth, a graceful bend, and an 
elastic spring. Case 169 shows comb manufacture. 

It is the laminatory character of horn that prevents the 



i4o HORN COMB MANUFACTURE. 

economical use of mechanical aid to any large extent. The diffi- 
culties thence arising and hitherto insurmountable are an erratic 
and diversely running grain, the raising up of the fibres after 
every use of the file, saw, plane, or other cutting instrument, and 
therefore the necessity for constant removal of debris and dust 
from the product-face, and of continual polishing and gauging. 
This latter care is needed, because the original start has to be 
made with a thickness of horn much stouter than is needed for 
the perfect comb, to allow for the waste of manufacture. An 
additional difficulty is the requirement of heat in all the pro- 
cesses, and that continually. These and other causes have ever 
prevented the use of what may be termed perfect mechanical 
appliances in this trade industry, in order to elegant, complete, 
and rapid production. 

Let us first enter the press house. All around on our right 
and our left lie heaps of horns, with the tips cut off, or divided 
lengthwise ; while the ammoniacal smell of burnt horn affects 
the eyes, palate, and nostrils. On one side of this shed, or 
outhouse, is an ordinary furnace, a sort of Tubal-Cain improvi- 
sation ; and close by, in front, is a huge hammer, or kind of 
movable anvil, working between upright iron guides, the hammer 
or anvil raisable by a pulley. The process goes on thus. The 
workman in front of the furnace takes one of the tipless horns, 
(after it has been rendered pliable by heat) and with a common 
strong ripping knife splits open the horn lengthwise in the direction 
of the varying grain — in other words, he merely divides the horn 
by the grain throughout. For to cut across the grain would be 
objectionable. The split-up horns are then again warmed (in hot 
water and by fire), are opened out pretty flat, laid between cold 
iron plates, and pressed quite level by aid of the before-mentioned 
hammer, a few iron wedges, and an oblong iron-bound space, 
sunk in the furnace floor, in which plates and horn are placed. 
The above plan is adopted in the case of " non-stained " goods. 
When the goods are to be stained afterwards (in imitation of 



HORN COMB MANUFACTURE. 



141 



tortoiseshell, it may be), the heated, ripped-up, and opened out 
horn is placed between hot steel plates, and more highly pressed, 
so as to reduce the horn-plates in thickness and to destroy the 
grain of the material. Then by the aid of other processes the 
horn will .take the staining requisite in the subsequent operations. 
The machine room may be called the laboratory of the comb 
works. Blazing fires, revolving lathes, choking dust, and horny 
abominations and smells of all kinds, greet you on entrance. 
Here the horn may be seen in all shapes and progress of develop- 
ment, receiving its direction, contour, polish, &c. The cutting 
apparatus works like a simple copying machine. Place the horn 
plate on the bench beneath, put over the plate a cutter of the 
shape, size, and outline of any comb you may subsequently 
require, strike down the press, and the piece is stamped out imme- 



r 

11 


i n n n 

! 
I 

J u u 


,r fllfflfififlflf 

JuUuuJUuUU 



PARTED COMBS. 



diately. Many pieces may, of course, be struck out by one die, 
and at one operation, the comb-plate being as economically used 
as possible. More pressing and straightening succeed, then 
grinding, ready for the " teeth." The mode of operation here 
depends on the kind of product you are manipulating. For a 
lady's back or side-comb, the " parting-engine " is put in requisi- 
tion. This is a clever little contrivance, that cuts the teeth as it 
draws the horn-plate through the machine, working by a top 
handle also, like a copying machine. Each forward or backward 
motion of the handle brings down a tooth-cutter, and by means of 
a cogged wheel shifts on the bed on which the plate lies one 



i 4 2 HORN COMB MANUFACTURE. 

tooth-distance further till all the teeth are cut. Various sized 
cutters may be used at one machine. 

The last tooth at each end of the comb or combs is separated 
by hand, and then you have two perfect combs, the just-cut teeth 
fitting into and drawing away from each other, as the fingers of 
each hand, if they be placed the one between the other, for 
purposes of illustration. The teeth of horse combs and of those 
finer ones for the dressing-table, are cut by the circular saw. 
Suppose one (or more) very fine-toothed saw to be fixed on a 
rapidly-revolving shaft (lathe fashion) having a frame in front to 
hold the horn-plate or plates, to be toothed (for several in thick- 
ness may be done simultaneously, one lot in front of each saw 
fixed on the one shaft). This frame is centred or pivoted, so 
that it can be pressed close to, or be moved further from, the saw- 
edges ; and has also a lateral motion acted on by a ratchet wheel. 

Now take, say, a dressing comb, put on the ratchet wheel that 
will produce the number, or width and size of teeth you need (for 
all such wheels are numbered at so many teeth to the inch, and 
are made to suit the various sizes and shaped products), turn the 
handle, press down the horn pieces against the revolving saw, and 
(the pressure being regulated by the mechanism) the teeth are 
just cut as you want them — in depth, size, &c. — each backward 
motion of the frame from the saw sending the frame sideways just 
the distance needed to determine the width of the teeth ; — thus 
this repeated action produces perfect teeth. 

When the back of the comb is half straight and half curved, or 
in any other similar form out of the straight line, and the depth of 
the teeth has therefore to vary in accordance, the pressure of the 
frame (which holds the horn in process of " toothing") is increased 
or decreased against the saw, and so the cut is made deeper or 
less deep by causing the frame in its lateral progress to be assisted 
(in its proximity to the edge of the circular saw) by a projecting 
arm that is raised or depressed by its passage over a curved 
block or comb-back of the shape of the one in manipulation. 



HORN BUTTONS. 143 

The fretwork in the back combs is all done by hand, the 
patterns being marked on the products and cut out by a very fine 
saw, a steady hand, and keen eye. The grooving and indentations 
on the comb-back are produced by the revolution of edged, 
grooved, serrated, and feathered wheels, against which the pro- 
duct is pressed to any required depth, exactly as the glass-cutter 
deals with his product. Thus also are the comb-backs of our 
dressing products channelled, grooved, roached, and otherwise 
adorned, the warmed and plastic horn being most obedient to 
every " good word and work." There seems scarcely an end to 
the rasping, planing, smoothing, and polishing, till, in the case of 
" stained " goods, the products are placed in a solution of weak 
aquafortis, and dotted with a red paint-like composition, to be 
subsequently chemicalised and washed off, when the stains will 
remain a la tortoiseshell I * 

Horn Buttons. — The manufacture of horn buttons is one that 
is interesting from its antiquity, and from the modern improve- 
ments that have been introduced into it. Long before metal 
buttons were made for general wear, the horn button shared with 
the bone button the patronage of the poor. At present the horn 
button is used principally for shooting coats and vests, and for 
shoes and boots. The horn button is not, however, made from 
horn, as the name indicates, but from the hoofs of horned cattle. 
The hoofs of each animal will weigh about two pounds, and 
more than 80 tons are used up yearly by one factory in Aberdeen. 
The hoofs of horses are not suitable for the purpose. When the 
hoofs arrive, they are thrown into a large caldron, and boiled 
until they are soft. They are then cut into halves, and the sec- 
tions transferred to the work-shop. Here the " blanks " are 
pierced or punched out by young women seated at hand-presses. 
The blanks, which are of a whitish colour, are then placed in vats 
in a strong dye, either of black, red, or green, the only colours 
which the hoof will take, where they remain till they are thoroughly 
* Simmonds's "Technologist," vol. 5, p. 475. 



144 HORN BUTTONS. 

dyed. Black is the most common colour used. The next opera- 
tion is to fix the shank, which is done while the blank is soft and 
hot. This is a rapid process, and, like most of the other operations, 
is performed by children. The horn button, after being shanked, 
remains but a plain piece of rounded hoof, not even flattened or 
smoothed on its surface. The next operation is to place it in a 
mould, having an orifice for the shank to fit in. This mould merely 
contains the maker's name or trade mark, and is for the under sur- 
face of the button. The mould contains a dozen repetitions of the 
same pattern. When the buttons are ranged in this receptacle they 
are heated over an oven, till they are almost as soft as wax, when 
an upper mould, containing the pattern which is to be impressed 
upon them, and which fits closely upon the other, is placed over 
it. The two are then subjected to the press, and the buttons 
are taken out round and complete, with the exception of an 
occasional roughness round the edge, resulting from the overflow 
of the molten substance. This is afterwards pared off. The 
buttons are then fixed by their shanks upon a plate of metal, and 
subjected to the operation of a brush or a series of brushes, moved 
by steam power, which gives them the last touch, and produces a 
beautiful polish. They are now ready for carding and packing. 

The Paris makers of horn buttons are celebrated for employing 
many of the best die-sinkers of France. Buttons of large size 
enable the artist to display ability, and the very fine classical 
heads upon some of the buttons in alto-relievo, show a great 
amount of skill in the execution of the dies ; on some, colours 
have been introduced in indented rings, which at a short distance 
look both neat and effective. In some French buttons the 
opacity of the horn (or more properly hoof) renders them un- 
attractive at a short distance, and it is only upon close examina- 
tion that their merits are discovered.* 

* The stages of manufacture, and the various illustrations of horn combs 
and horn buttons, can be advantageously studied in the cases 168 and 169 in 
the Animal Products Collection at the Bethnal Green Museum, 



BONES AND THEIR USES. 145 

Bones and their Uses. — The bones of almost all animals are 
now articles of commerce; both wild and domesticated ones 
are made to yield parts of their osseous skeletons for some useful 
purpose. Thus we now import the bones of the giraffe, elephant, 
horse, ox, buffalo, and whale. The trade in bones has reached 
a very large amount, our imports exceeding 100,000 tons, of the 
value of ^700,000. 

In 1850 we imported but 27,198 tons, but in 1875 the imports 
were 104,971 tons, and those collected at home will probably be 
about the same amount. The greater quantity of these bones are 
used for manure. Of the imports in 1875, only 7,754 tons were 
suited for manufacturing purposes. 

The composition of bones has been examined by many 
eminent chemists, but the most complete researches are those by 
M. Fremy. He found no marked difference between the bones 
of man, the ox, calf, elephant, and whale, but in the bones of 
carnivorous animals and those of birds there is a slight increase 
in the amount of mineral matter. 

The general composition of bones may be considered to be 
as follows : — 

Blood vessels . . 1 

Osseine (usually erroneously termed gelatine) . . . 32 

Fat -9 

Water 8 

Phosphate of lime ....... 38 

Phosphate of magnesia ....»•• 2 

Carbonate of lime . . . • • .8 

Various other salts . . . • • . . 2 

100 

The fresh or green bones obtained at home are more valued 
than the imported bones, because they yield more gelatine and 
fat in boiling. Fresh unsteamed shin bones being solid, are very 
heavy, but as they become old they lose much of their weight. 
Old steamed bones are on the contrary light, and float in water. 
Bone is' an important agent in many manufactures, being used 

L 



146 BONES AND THEIR USES. 

by potters, turners, cutlers, gluemakers, sugar refiners, assayers, 
and by farmers for manure. 

About 2,000,000 shank bones of oxen are worked up every 
year in Sheffield, &c, for knife-handles and spoons, and they are 
made into tooth and nail brushes, combs, fans, bone flats for 
button moulds, and various miscellaneous articles. 

The small article of bone buttons constitutes an enormous 
trade. Prodigious quantities are made at Birmingham and Shef- 
field, and sent away in ton loads annually. So cheap are they, 



BONY SKELETON OF HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

that they are sold at ^d. the gross wholesale, and hence can 
compete with any other material, even wood. 

In the several stages of the useful applications of bones, we 
have first the shank and cut bones just alluded to for working up, 
next carbonised bones, burnt in closed air-tight retorts for about 
twelve hours, which are then ground between grooved plates to 
make animal charcoal in grain. This is employed as a filtering 
substance to clarify sugar in the process of refining. The portions 
of the carbonised bones which, in the process of grinding become 
too fine for filtering charcoal, are reduced to an impalpable 
powder and sold as bone-black to the blacking-maker. The 
grease or fat extracted from the bones before carbonising is used 



ANIMAL I ATS. 147 

for making soap. Sulphate of ammonia, the liquor distilled out 
in the process of carbonising bones, afterwards saturated with 
sulphuric acid and evaporated, is used as smelling salts, and 
largely as a valuable manure. 

Bone ash, when ground to moderately fine powder, is the 
material of which the cupels of the gold and silver assayers are 
made, being at the same time very infusible and sufficiently 
porous to discharge the litharge and other impurities, while the 
fine metal remains on its surface.* 

The Trade in Tallow. — Of the different animal oils and fats, 
we shall only speak in this place of tallow, bone fat, and neats- 
foot oil, leaving horse-grease, lard, &c, to be dealt with in other 
sections. 

Under the name of fats we designate the greasy matters, soft 
or solid, which fill in animals the cavities of the cellular tissues. 
It is found coating the intestines, round the kidneys, under the 
skin, between the muscles, near the base of the heart, and in the 
various cavities of the bones. 

The composition of the fresh fat of animals, previous to its 
becoming rancid — that is before the formation in it of certain 
acids through the oxidising agency of the atmosphere, is oleomar- 
garin and stearine, together with the membranous cellular tissues, 
in which these fatty substances are deposited. If we subject 
tallow to a considerable pressure we obtain a solid residue and a 
liquid oil, and even the most fluid oils contain a certain portion 
of solid fat. 

The fat of various animals has not the same degree of solidi- 
fication, fusion, or density ; at different ages of the animal all 
these vary, becoming more elevated as the animal increases in 
age; — food, climate, work or action, modify these. The density, 
degrees of fusion, and richness in stearine of fats also varies 

* The various economic applications of Bone are shown both in the Animal 
Products Collection, Case 170, and the Waste Products Collection of the 
Bethnal Green Museum. 

L 2 



148 



THE TRADE IN TALLOW. 



according to the parts of the animal from which it is taken. The 
point of solidification of beef suet is about 98*5. 

The tallow of commerce is the fat obtained by melting the suet 
of the ox or the sheep, and straining it so as to free it from 
membrane. When pure, it is white and nearly insipid, but as 
usually imported it has a yellow tinge and is classed according 
to the degree of its purity and consistence into candle and soap 
tallow. The tallow for making soap is considered very good if 
13 cwt. of it will yield, with the other ingredients used, a ton 
weight of soap. The common kinds of soap are made from 
beef tallow and bone fat, and the better sorts from mutton and 
mixed tallows. The home production of tallow has been estimated 
as high as 120,000 tons, which added to the imports of 50,000 
tons, makes a total of 170,000 tons of the raw material employed 
in the kingdom. 

In 1840 the imports of tallow were 1,148,192 cwts., nearly all 
from Russia. In 1850 the imports from Russia were 854,144 
cwts., and in 1875 a nttle m ore than 50,000 cwts. The United 
States, Australia, and South America are now taking the place of 
Russia in the supplies they furnish to our commerce, as will be 
seen from the following figures ; but the Russian tallow still main- 
tains a small superiority in price. 



FROM 


i860. 


1870. 


1875. 


Russia „ Cwts. . 
Australia « , , , . 
South America .... 
United States and other Countries . 


1,082,663 

12,005 

146,961 

188,479 


242,541 
489,751 
474, 145 
316,861 


5o,5i7 
270,498 
226,006 
420,375 


1,430,108 1,523,298 


967,396 



The sum paid annually for foreign tallow in this country ranges 
from ;£ 2,000, 000 to ^3,000,000, and very little is re-exported. 

Tallow arrives at St. Petersburg from Siberia and the Ukraine 
from August up to the closing of the canals by ice. The quality 
depends upon its purity and its point of fusion. The point of 



TALLOW AND TALLOW CANDLES. 149 

fusion of the Ukraine tallow is 35 Reaumur. The initials P. Y. C. 
and Y. C. used in trade reports represent pale yellow candle, 
and yellow candle tallow. That imported from Russia is nearly 
all beef tallow ; from South America and Australia a considerable 
quantity of mutton tallow is received, which is white, and fetches 
a rather higher price. New tallow will realize is. or 2s. a cwt. 
more than old. Case 158 contains tallows. 

Town tallow is equal in value to Australian sheep tallow; 
melted stuff, or mixed kitchen fat and bone grease all have a 
value, although below that of the finer kinds of tallow. White 
bDne fat is obtained by boiling or steaming fresh butchers' bones, 
and brown bone fat from street bones. The dregs or mem- 
branous refuse remaining after melting down tallow, is sold for 
feeding dogs, under the name of tallow greaves. Tallow oil is the 
oleine or liquid fat obtained in steaming and pressing tallow in 
woollen bags. 

It was about the twelfth century that tallow torches came into 
use, and in the following century the tallow candle was generally 
employed, much in the same form and shape which it bears at 
the present day, but cotton being unknown, a flaxen wick was 
used. These candles in the time of the Romans were considered 
a great luxury, and only used by persons of high rank. In 185 1 
it was estimated that the average make of tallow candles, dips, 
and moulds, in this country, was 1,000 tons per week. The 
employment of gas in the present day, the cheap and abundant 
petroleum oil, and the large supply of vegetable oils, with the 
extensive production of stearine candles, have reduced the de- 
mand for ordinary tallow candles to a minimum. 

The annual production of tallow in Russia about ten years ago 
was officially estimated at 160,000 tons, of which one half used 
to be exported, and the rest was locally consumed. Now the 
shipments are much smaller and the home consumption more 
considerable. There are in the empire upwards of 700 large 
tallow melters, who employ about 7,000 workmen. There are 



150 TALLOW AND NEATS-FOOT OLL. 

600 candle factories employing 2,500 workpeople; 320 soap 
works, giving employment to 1,200 workmen, and thirteen steam 
works employing 2,100 people. The total value of the products 
worked up in Russia from tallow, exceeds ^3, 2 5 0,000. In Russia 
an ox in good condition will yield 200 to 250 lbs. of tallow. In 
Australia about 186 lbs. of tallow is obtained from each head of 
cattle, and 20 lbs. from each sheep. 

At one time there was so little demand for cattle and sheep in 
Australia, that they were chiefly boiled down for their tallow. In 
1848, 38,642 cattle, and 286,392 sheep were thus slaughtered in 
New South Wales for boiling down alone. 

From 1844 to 1849, both inclusive, the number of sheep 
boiled down in New South Wales and Port Phillip (now Victoria) 
was 1,565,752, and of horned cattle 184,064, producing 440,186 
cwt. of tallow. 

In the six years ending 1865, an average of 37,829 head of 
cattle w r ere annually melted down for tallow in Victoria, and in 
1868 and 1869, 410,048 sheep were thus disposed of. The mode 
of doing so is the following : — The carcasses of sheep are chopped 
up in three or four pieces, and placed in large vats, eleven feet 
high, capable of holding 300 to 400 animals, and steam being 
applied, the fat swims on the top, and is drawn off into coolers, 
which ordinarily contain 500 gallons. The flesh is given to pigs 
or made into manure. 

An animal oil which is much in request is neat's-foot oil, made 
by boiling down the feet of cattle, by tripe-dressers and others, 
who purchase the offal of the markets. Ten of these feet will 
yield about a quart of oil. This oil is retailed at about $s. a gallon. 
Some quantity is shipped from the River Plate and the Falkland 
Islands, and a good deal is made in London, Paris, New York, 
and other large cities. As it remains liquid below 32 , and is in 
other respects a useful lubricant, it is much employed to oil 
machinery, church clocks, &c. This oil can be easily purified 
and freed from the deposit by placing it in the sun's rays with 



THE SOAP MANUFACTURE. 151 

a few strips of lead in the vessel, when the pure oil will rise to 
the top. 

Soap. — Soap is the product of the action of caustic alkali upon 
neutral fats. Potash and soda form soluble soaps; of these 
potash forms soft soap, and soda hard soap. The latter is conse- 
quently most generally employed. The cleansing property of 
soap is usually considered to depend upon the amount of alkali 
which it contains; pure alkali would injure the hands and the 
fabric, but by combination with the fatty acids its action is 
rendered milder without destroying its property of combining 
with impurities, and especially with fatty matters. Soap is used 
for cleansing purposes, in washing, in bleaching cloth and woollen 
materials, for the preparation of lithographic tints, &c. 

The animal substances principally employed are, imported beef 
and mutton tallow, horse-grease, lard, and fish-oils, also bone- 
grease, kitchen refuse, town tallow, and fat obtained from 
butchers. Lard is rarely used in Europe for making soap, being 
too dear ; but it is extensively employed in the United States, 
where enormous quantities are converted into a solid fat and a 
fluid oil. 

The greater the quantity of fat acids combined in the soap the 
higher is its value. It is in the power of the soap-maker to 
manufacture 300 parts of a good hard soap out of 100 parts of 
fat. When but a small quantity of water is contained, the soap 
becomes very hard, and much labour is lost in obtaining a lather. 
If on the other hand water is held in too large a proportion, there 
is a great loss of material. For the common yellow soaps and 
for soaps for sizing paper, resin is added to tallow in the propor- 
tion of 50 per cent. 

The soaps made in England are distinguished by a good 
substance, a soft cut, and a composition appropriate to the 
special uses for which they are made — and for their cheapness. 
The best are well saponified without excess of alkali or salts. 
The materials employed are chiefly tallow for white soap, and 



152 THE TRADE IN HIDES. 

bone grease and kitchen stuff for marbled soaps and Windsor 
soaps. 

Since the abolition of the duty on soap, and the soap-makers' 
licence, it is not possible to obtain any precise returns of the 
quantity of soap made. In 1851 there were 317 licensed makers 
in Great Britain, but by centralisation and larger factories the 
number of makers has been greatly reduced. The quantity of 
soap manufactured in 1851 was 100,000 tons, of which 24,500 
tons were exported and used by manufacturers, leaving 75,500 
tons for domestic use, a proportion of a little over 8 lbs. to each 
person. The manufacture has since largely extended and the 
product is cheaper, owing to the greatly increased supplies of 
vegetable oils. The export of soap, which was then (185 1) about 
6,300 tons, was in 1875, 12,538 tons.""" 

The Trade in Hides. — The demands of the civilised world 
bring all descriptions of hides and skins to our markets, such, for 
instance, as the miscellaneous collections of skins and peltries 
of the Hudson's Bay Company. At the public sales in London 
and Liverpool, held fortnightly, immense numbers pass under the 
hammer of the auctioneer. Strange mixtures are sometimes met 
with in the different lots offered. For instance, the Commercial 
Society of Mozambique sold at Rotterdam, in June, 1876, 5,461 
skins of the gnu (Catoblepus Gnu), 2,542 of the quagga {Asinus 
Quagga), 436 of the giraffe (Camelopardalis Giraffa), 96 boar skins, 
14 lion and hyena skins, 41 deer, 391 buck skins, 2,168 of the 
blesbok (Gazella albifrons), and 3,071 of various other antelopes. 

Skins vary in texture and substance as much as the character 
of the animals they cover. Mr. W. N. Evans, a scientific and 
practised tanner of Bristol, tells us that the sheep, though valuable 
for its wool, gives but a spongy, porous skin, only available for 
common work, such as wash leather and imitation chamois. 
The pig, with a skin of a closer texture, is yet of so inferior 
a description as to be principally confined to saddler's work, 
* Case 159 contains spermaceti and Case 160 soaps. 



THE TRADE IN HIDES. 153 

for which it is well adapted. The horse is the possessor of 
a remarkably thin skin, almost transparent ; the naturalist would 
do well to notice one peculiarity about it, which is, that whilst 
three-fourths of the hide make the best curried leather, the re- 
maining portion from the hip bones, covering the rump, has under 
the true skin a layer of thicker substance, giving to it an inflexi- 
bility very foreign to the rest of the hide. No doubt this layer 
was placed there for some wise purpose • but what that purpose 
is we have yet to learn. The hide of the ox is the most im- 
portant. The calf and younger cattle give us skins which are 
mainly used for the uppers of boots. The ox at maturity furnishes 
the stouter hide, which the tanner transforms into sole leather. 
What are the chemical constituents of a hide? A transverse 
section of fresh skin shows it to be a gelatinous mass, the sub- 
stance of which is full of fibres interlacing each other in every 
direction. The microscope reveals to us the corium, or true 
skin, and the cuticle, or epidermis ; between the two lies the rete 
mucosum. The cuticle in which the hair is imbedded is removed 
during the process with the hair, leaving the true skin to be made 
into leather. 

The skin in its normal condition, as received from the butcher 
in the home market, possessing its original moisture and flexibility 
requires but little skill to prepare it for the process of tanning. 
Our home product of hides was valued in 1873 at ^7,000,000 
sterling; but the imported hides and skins of different kinds 
received from all parts of the .world in the same year, raw, 
tanned or dressed, exceeded^* 10,000,000 in value. 

The vast Pampas bordering on the River Plate, in South 
America, now furnish large quantities of the best hides. The 
River hides, as they are called, consist of the Paysandu ox hides, 
which range from 60 to 67 lbs. on the average. The Gualeguay- 
chu ox hides 62 to 64 lbs. ; the Salto ox 66 lbs., and the Con- 
cepcion ox 64 lbs. The Buenos Ayres hides average about 62 lbs. 

The hides while quite fresh are put into brine pickle for twelve 



154 THE TRADE IN HIDES. 

to twenty-four hours, when completely saturated they are removed 
to drain, then salted and placed in piles for ten to fifteen days, 
after which they are ready for shipment. They are placed in 
layers on board ship for passage to Europe, with bay-salt between 
each layer, and reach our shores in a moist condition. A heavy 
River Plate ox hide may measure 7ft. long, by 5ft. 9m. wide. A 
light one 4ft. ioin. by 4ft. 4m. A salted ox hide may weigh from 
42 to 89 lbs. According to size one thousand ox hides, with the 
necessary salt, may be taken to weigh about 30 tons. The 
number of hides, salted and dried, shipped annually from Buenos 
Ayres is from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000, from Montevideo 1,500,000, 
and from Brazil about 1,500,000. The principal markets for 
these hides are first France, second the United States, third 
Belgium, and fourth England. 

Havre and Marseilles are the principal ports of import in 
France : at the former about one million of hides are received 
annually ; at Antwerp one million and a' half are imported. 

Of the one million and a half hides shipped annually from 
Brazil three-fourths are wet salted, and one quarter dried. The 
former are sent chiefly from San Jose do Norte, and the latter 
from Rio Grande do Sul. The latter province used to swarm 
with wild horses and cattle, and nearly 600,000 head of cattle are 
slaughtered there annually. The Brazilian hides weigh from 30 
to 32 lbs. each, and as freight 70 are computed to weigh a ton. 
From Guatemala 627,000 hides were shipped in 1874, and from 
Texas at least 300,000, either dried or salted, are sent away. 

The excellent material obtained from horned cattle on the 
steppes, on the immense pasture lands of Podolia, and on the 
broad plains of Central Russia acquires a high degree of solidity, 
flexibility and excellence from the perfect system of tanning em- 
ployed. There are in Russia about 3,000 tanneries and leather 
manufactories, and the annual production in prepared hides and 
sheep skins amounts to close upon ^8,000,000. The number of 
raw hides and skins obtained annually is estimated at 20,500,000, 



TECHNICALITIES OF THE LEATHER TRADE. 155 

of which 19,000,000, are dressed. Deducting sheep skins, which 
are more than 50 per cent of the whole, the numbers and weights 
may be taken as : 

Ox-hides . . . 2,200,000 averaging 40 lbs. 

Cow-hides . . 1,300,000 ,, 20 ,, 

Calf-skins . . . 4,000,000 ,, 3 ,, 

Horse-hides . . 1,000,000 ,, 12 ,, 

About one-tenth of these are exported. 

There are certain technicalities in the leather trade which require 
explanation, thus we have the " crop " or full hide, the " butt " or 
rounded hide, and the "offal" which consists of shoulders, cheeks, 
and faces, necks, bellies, and middles. A side of leather is a 
" bend." 

In trimming leather a very little is taken off the butt end, then 
about a foot in depth or less according to the quality or thickness 
of hide is taken from the belly, then from the fore end of the bend 
to within about six inches of the horns a square piece called 
" shoulders " is taken, and from this a piece is generally cut called 
the "range," which is from above the shoulders to the horns. 
The rest is " cheeks and faces." Thus we have from a whole 
hide five different kinds of leather, which bear about the following 

relative prices : — 

Per lb.— s. d. 

Butt 20 

Belly 10 

Shoulders . . . . .14 

Range . . . . . . n 

Cheeks and faces .... 9 

The oblong portion between the two belly parts marked G G, 
is known as the " butt," and when split down the ridge, as shown 
by the dotted line down the centre, the two pieces are known as 
"bends;" the two pieces marked Y are "belly offal;" D is 
known as " cheeks and faces." The butt within the dotted line 
may extend in length from A to B or from A to C ; if cut off be- 
tween B and C that portion is called the " range ; " or the whole 



156 MODE OF TRIMMING A HIDE. 

from B to X may be cut in one piece and termed a " shoulder." 
Sometimes the range is cut off, and the rest would be called a 
shoulder, with " cheeks and faces " on : or, again, the range and 
shoulder may be all in one nearly square piece. The manner 
of cutting this part depends upon the spread and size of the 
hide. The sketch on the opposite page shows what is termed a 
close rounded butt. There is generally more belly taken off an 
English than from a South American hide, and for strap leather 
they round closer than for the other purposes. The belly taken 
off a River Plate hide is narrower than what is shown in the 
diagram ; the most pains is taken in tanning the butt, as they 
always tan offal by the quick process. When leather is trimmed 
in this way the belly offal generally sells at one half the price of 
the butt or bend, the shoulder a few pence below the price of the 
butt, and cheeks and faces about half the price of the shoulder. 

Crop leather weighs from 26 to 36 lbs., and shaved hides from 
16 to 26 lbs., and sells at some fourpence per pound more than 
the crop. The rounded shaved leather, generally cut into sides, 
is dressed leather and sells always by the pound. 

Calf skins vary in weight from 20 to 25 lbs. up to 100 to 120 lbs. 
They are sold either entire or rounded. The heavy ones are 
not so valuable as the light ones by threepence to sixpence per lb. 

" Kips " is the name given to the ox hides while in the state of 
transition from the calf to the fully developed animal, this applies 
to English, St. Petersburg, and South American Kips. But there 
is another kind of Kip imported in large quantities from the East 
Indies, which are the skins of a small breed of oxen shipped 
from the three Presidency ports of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. 
A Patna Kip is the hide of a two year old steer or heifer, and is 
supposed to be anything in the shape of a hide weighing less than 
1 6 lbs. As a general rule Kips come to market salted. When 
properly tanned and dressed, these hides make fine leather, rank- 
ing next to calf skin. They are shipped from Calcutta, both dry 
and dry salted, folded down the back, and also plastered over the 



MODE OF TRIMMING A HIDE. 



157 



flesh with some kind of whitewash. Kips range from 3 J to 9 lbs. 
Of late years the greed of commerce has induced unscrupulous 



A 



c 



B 



CROP, OR FULL HIDE. 

dealers to daub the fleshy side of the Indian Kips with large 
quantities of plaster, as much as 3 lbs. being often added, and 



153 THE LEATHER MANUFACTURE. 

the average is i J lbs. In the five years ending 1868 the annual 
value of the hides and skins shipped from India was ;£ 900,000, 
in the next five years it was ,£2,560,000, and the average of the 
three years ending in 1875 was ,£2,739,134. 

The following shows the number of hides and skins shipped 
from India in 1873 and 1875 : — 





1871 


>• 




1875. 




Tanned. Dry and Salted. 


Tanned. 


Dry and Salted. 


Bengal . 


. 1,049,829 


9,788,504 


6,775,920 


9,636,651 


Bombay 


• 2,040,735 


1,015,826 


1,019,201 


270,712 


British Burmah 


3,352 


367,840 


3,600 


274,029 


Madras . 


. 8,119,222 


271,071 


6,467,764 


148,087 


Scinde 


6,044 


325,192 


17,562 
14,284,047 


80, 143 




11,219,182 


11,768,433 


10,409,622 



The total number shipped in 1874 was 19,295,552. There 
is an export duty in India of 3 per cent, on tanned hides and 
skins ; raw hides are shipped free. 

The cows, bullocks, and buffaloes in the Punjab in 1875 
numbered 6,570,212. 

Leather Manufacture. — Next to wool, the leather trade 
forms one of the largest British industries connected with animal 
products. By the census of 187 1 there were in England and 
Wales alone more than 55,500 fellmongers, tanners, curriers, and 
workers and dealers in skins; 25,000 workers and dealers in 
saddlery, harness, portmanteaus, &c. ; 21,000 glovers ; and nearly 
225,000 boot and shoe makers. The uses of leather are so 
numerous that it is quite impossible to estimate the home con- 
sumption. Even if it were calculated that one half of the popula- 
tion of Great Britain used only two pairs of boots or shoes 
each yearly, at $s. a. pair, this would give an annual outlay of 
^£16,368,700. This sum might, however, safely be doubled, to 
say nothing of the gloves, saddlery, belting, and other multifarious 
uses of leather. 

Enormous progress has been made in the leather trade. English 



TANNING SUBSTANCES. 159 

leather of the best quality is now supplied to the principal markets 
of the Continent, and bids fair to hold its ground. While in 1828 
the value of the leather of British manufacture exported, was under 
^"164,000, in 1875 ^ na cl risen to ^3, 874.108. 

The Animal Products Collection at Bethnal Green Museum is 
very rich in hides and leathers from all countries, obtained at the 
various International Exhibitions ; there are numerous illustrations 
of the applications of leather for book-binding, saddlery and 
harness, wall hangings, shoes, gloves, and other purposes. 

Tanning Substances. — For the use of the 800 Tanneries of 
the United Kingdom, and to work up more than 190,000 tons of 
hides and skins into leather, a large quantity of Tanning 
Materials is required. The principal supply is obtained from the 
bark of our indigenous oaks, and from the larch tree in Scot- 
land. Mimosa, Cork, and a few other foreign barks are imported, 
and bark extracts from North America, to the value of ^£64,000. 
Gambier, Sumach, "Divi Divi," (a leguminous pod from Rio 
Hache), Myrobalans (a dried Indian fruit), and the acorn-cups of a 
species of oak of Southern Europe, passing in commerce under the 
name of " Valonia," are the other tanning substances chiefly used. 

The proportion for producing one ton of leather would be, of 
Bark 6 tons, Sumach or " Valonia " 2 tons, Gambier and Cutch 
1 ton. The following figures will give an idea of the aggregate 
consumption in 1874, and the current prices : — 







Quantity. 


Price. 


British Oak Bark in loads of 45 cwt. 




£ £ 


(Hatched Bark) 




200,000 


17 to 19 per load 


Foreign Oak Bark 


cwt. 


207,168 . 


6 to 7 ,, ton. 


Larch Bark .... 


loads 


50,000 . 


5 ,, load. 


Mimosa Bark . 


cwt. 


117,168 . 


12 to 14 ,, ton. 


Valonia .... 


tons 


26,336 . 


15 to 20 ,, ton. 


Myrobalans 


cwt. 


338,466 . 


13 to 16 ,, ton. 


Sumach .... 


tons 


16,514 . 


12 to 19 ,, ton. 


Gambier and Cutch . 


tons 


16,441 . 


25 to 35 ,, ton. 



* In Cases 136 and 137 will be found a large and varied collection of the 
vegetable substances used in tanning. 



160 PARCHMENT AND VELLUM. 

Parchment and Vellum. — The origin of parchment is very- 
old, the skins of animals prepared for writing on being generally 
used before the discovery of paper. Herodotus tells us the Greeks 
wrote on the skins of the goat and the sheep deprived of their 
hair and prepared ; Josephus states that the copy of the Holy 
Scriptures sent to Ptolemy by the High Priest Eleazar was written 
on fine animal membrane. Pergame is generally said to be the 
locality where it was first invented, and parchment still bears this 
name in parts of the continent. Before the Revolution, the Uni- 
versity of Paris had the sole right to sell parchment, and there was a 
street set apart for it. All made had to be sent to the Hall to be 
examined and stamped. The object was to secure the authenticity 
and date of acts and deeds, &c. Parchment is usually made of 
sheep skin but can also be made with those of goats and calves. 
The skin of the ram makes a better parchment than that of the 
ewe, but the best is from lamb skins. Parchment for drums, 
tambourines, &c, is usually made of calf skin or goat skin; wolf 
skin is said to be the best for this purpose. 

Parchment is much used for commissions, warrants, writs, 
diplomas, title deeds, and estate plans, &c, which require to be 
preserved. It is also employed by miniature painters, for church 
missals, in bookbinding, &c. 

Vellum is a finer, smoother, white kind of parchment, made of 
the skins of young calves which are larger, thicker, and more 
difficult to prepare than sheep and goat skins, hence the higher 
price. It is elastic, stronger and more smooth and compact than 
parchment. It is therefore selected for manuscript addresses, 
designs, and church books, &c. Before the discovery of oil paint- 
ing, the choicest drawings were made on vellum. 

The mode of preparation is first to take off the hair or wool, 
then to steep the skin in lime, and afterwards to stretch it very 
firmly on a wooden frame. When thus fixed, it is scraped with a 
blunt iron tool, and wetted and rubbed with chalk and pumice 
stone, till it is fit for use. It is curious to notice that from about 



B OKBINDING. 1 6 1 

the seventh to the tenth century parchment was beautiful, white, 
and good, but in later times a very inferior, dirty looking kind ol 
parchment came into use, which has the appearance of being 
much older than the good. The reason for this is supposed to 
be that the writers in these later centuries used to prepare their 
own parchment, while at an earlier date it was a curious art, only 
possessed by the manufacturers. 

The scarcity and expense of parchment, and the demand for 
the writings of the fathers and books of devotion, in the middle 
ages, frequently induced the monks to erase or wash out the 
writings of the classical authors, to make room for those of the 
fathers. In many cases, however, they did not obliterate entirely 
the ancient writing, and a careful examination of some of these 
" palimpsest " MSS., has led to the discovery of valuable works 
and fragments of the classical authors, among the rest one of the 
works of Cicero. 

Case 135 contains specimens of parchment and vellum, and 
the tools used in preparing it, and there are some framed speci- 
mens of very old parchment writings. There is in the case a 
specimen of parchment made from kangaroo skin. The refuse 
chippings and cuttings of the manufacture are used for making 
size. 

Bookbinding. — Great improvement has taken place in all 
descriptions of bookbinding within the last few years, more 
especially in the application of colour and ornament to the cheaper 
kinds. So great has been the extension of this trade, that the 
introduction of machinery for performing the operations of em- 
bossing and blind-tooling became necessary in order that the 
bookbinder might keep pace with the demands on his trade. The 
editions of most popular works are now so large, and have to be 
published at so low a price, that the cheapest style of binding has 
to be adopted. An edition of a thousand volumes can be put 
up in cloth covers, lettered and gilt, by some of the large binding 
firms in six hours. 



162 BOOKBINDING. 

Mr. Reed, reporting on the Bookbinding exhibits at the London 
Exhibition of 1862, observed that in bookbinding there may be 
said to be three grand divisions : first, those works of art which in 
all the magnificence of splendid covers, jewelled ornament, and 
carved ivory, and enamel, seem to rival in richness the bindings 
of the earliest printed books, which on account of their rarity 
have been treasured, especially abroad, in the most costly covers, 
weighted and enriched by reliefs in gold, silver, and other chased 
metals • secondly, work marked by a degree of simplicity border- 
ing upon rigidity, combining an elegance and solidity in design 
and manipulation which furnish the highest style of work, in 
which the finest relics of antiquity, the choicest reprints of rare 
books, and the highest class of modern literature, are encased ; 
and thirdly, there is the bright, gay, and begilded cloth and paper 
binding of our ephemeral literature, rapidly produced, and as 
rapidly destined to destruction. 

In all these sections there is a marked advance ; in the first, 
extravagance has to some extent given way to utility ; in the 
second, the exactitude of the mere copyist has yielded to the 
demand for some degree of originality in design and greater care 
in the combination of colours; and in the third, cheapness of 
production, and the valuable initiative faculty have given to us 
instead of clumsy and inartistic covers, a degree of merit in cheap 
work which is one of the marvels of the present age. 

Half-binding is that style in which only the back and corners 
are covered with leather, and the sides with paper or cloth. In 
the finishing or ornamenting of a bound book much taste may be 
displayed. The edges of the leaves are usually either sprinkled 
with colour, marbled, or gilt with leaf gold. The covers are 
sometimes coloured or sprinkled by the binder, and are im- 
pressed both on the sides and back with ornamental devices 
and inscriptions, by the application of heated stamps or dies, 
either with or without leaf gold ; such impressed devices as 
are not gilt being distinguished by the name of blind-tooling. 



MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF LEATHER. 163 

When gold is used, the surface of the leather is prepared to 
receive it by the successive application of parchment-size, white 
of egg, and a little oil. In ordinary handwork, the patterns are 
produced by the separate application of a number of small dies, 
and engraved rollers for lines and long narrow patterns, but 
sometimes a number of dies are fitted together and applied 
simultaneously by means of a press. This process is called 
blocking. Various shades of colour are applied to the leathers 
used in bookbinding. We have bindings in Russia and Morocco 
leather, fancy calf, goat, parchment and vellum, and embossed 
leather. Among the other materials used for book-covers are 
tortoise-shell, carved ivory, velvet, mother-of-pearl shell, oak, and 
other carved or inlaid wood. 

Case 144 contains specimens of bookbinding. 

Miscellaneous applications of leather. — The leather 
manufacture is one of our most ancient and important industries, 
and there are very many minor and miscellaneous applications of 
leather which add variety and interest to a collection. Even if 
modern illustrations of shoes and boots are not necessarily shown 
in the Museum, some of the curious varieties are, such as alligator, 
snake skin, porpoise skin, and kangaroo skin boots. Samples of 
leather tankards, bottles, sandals, caskets, and shields as exemplifi- 
cations of former uses ; sheaths and scabbards, braces, breeches, 
vests and buttons, as articles of dress. Fancy leather work, as 
frames, flowers &c. There are also a host of small articles in 
leather work, such as port-monnaies, pocket-books, purses, card 
cases, sample-cases, letter-cases, cigar-cases, writing-folios, tobacco- 
pouches, cloak straps, ladies' belts or leather girdles, which in 
many instances are pretty and attractive. Leather palms used 
by the sail-maker, buckets, belting and driving straps for ma- 
chinery, buff leather, a strong oil leather prepared from the 
skin of the ox, buffalo, elk, &c, and used for polishing wheels, 
buffsticks or glaziers, knifeboards, razor strops, &c, and other 
uses. 



1 64 ILLUSTRATIONS OF LEATHER WORK. 

The old adage that there is nothing like leather is certainly 
verified in the multifarious uses to which leather has been or is 
now put. We make coverings of it in articles of personal use, for 
a man may be clothed in leather garments from the head to the 
foot. In saddlery and harness its use is universal, and nothing 
can supplant it for durability. In articles for household and 
domestic use, we have leather hangings and coverings for furni- 
ture, buckets and bottles, cups and hose. Eleven frames of 
handsome tapestry leather are shown. For travelling we have 
portmanteaus, valises and hand bags, pocket books, purses and 
cigar cases. In Case 145 are examples of many of these. We 
write on leather and we cover our books with it, and it has even 
been used by photographers to take likenesses on. It is the 
packing and baling material in many countries from its cheapness 
and durability. Hammocks, boats, and even cannon, have been 
made of it, whilst the leather apron is the most durable and 
serviceable protection for many an artisan. Leather shields were 
and are still in use in many countries. It serves for the grip 
handle of swords, and for sheaths of knives. We use leather in 
balls for cricket and football, and we cover musical instruments 
with it, as well as telescopes and many philosophical instruments 
for protection. It is the most ancient, useful, and generally 
applied animal substance for an infinite variety of purposes. And 
moreover leather can be made of the skin or hide of almost every 
quadruped, and of many fishes, serpents, and reptiles. Human 
skin has even been tanned, but it is too thin for any serviceable 
use. In Cases 140, 141, 142 are illustrations of leather work, and 
Case 138 contains specimens of tools used in the working and 
preparation of leather. 

There are eleven large framed photographs shown, taken at 
Messrs. Bevington and Sons' tannery, Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey, 
which illustrate and explain the whole process of tanning and 
leather preparation, while other frames from the same firm con- 
tain samples of various manufactured leathers, and of the stages 



USES OF OFFAL. 165 

of progress in preparing sheep-skin, goat and calf-skin, seal-skin, 
and horse hide. 

Uses of Offal. — What shall be done with the fifth quarter 
of the animal, or the " offal " was a question that formerly used 
to be perpetually assailing Boards of Health, and other sanitary 
bodies who have the supervision of slaughter-houses, meat- 
markets, &c. 

Now, however, the offal of cattle suited for food, the waste from 
dressing skins and preparing leather, and other animal refuse, all 
have their distinctive and remunerative uses. 

The tanner makes use of the hide, while the bones and horns 
are put to various uses. The suet is melted down by the candle 
makers, leaving only the head, offal, and blood to be disposed of. 
We shall now proceed to trace out some of the purposes in which 
these are employed. The allowance for offal is very largely and 
variedly influenced by the breed of the animal, sex, age, and 
accidental circumstances. The following figures may however, be 
taken as the average medium weight of the offal in fat cattle 
brought to market. 

In general, hide and horns, 4 to 7 stone of 8 lbs. — in rare cases, 
8 to 9 stone ; tallow, 3 to 10 stone — in rare cases, nearly to 20 
stone ; head and tongue, 2 to 3 J stone ; kidneys, 2 to 4 lbs. ; back 
collop, 2 to 4 lbs. ; heart, 6 to 9 lbs. ; liver, lungs, and windpipe, 
1 to 2 stone ; stomach and entrails, 10 to 14 stone; blood 3 to 4 
stone. Or the proportions may be taken to be as follows : 

Store oxen 

Fat oxen . . . 

Fat heifers 

Fat calves . 

Much of the offal is used as food, such as the head, tongue, 
feet, heart, liver, lungs, tripe, &c. 

The head of the ox contains about 30 per cent, of meat, which 
is usually fat, and produces a nutritious soup. Calf's head is a 



Carcase. 


Offal. 


593 


38-9 


59'8 


38-5 


55-6 


41-3 


6 3 'i 


33 5 



1 66 TRIPE DRESSING— GUT AND BLADDER. 

more delicate and expensive dish. Ox tongues are usually salted 
or pickled, but are sometimes dried, and there is a considerable 
commerce in ox tongues imported from Russia, Australia, and 
River Plate. 

In parts of Africa, according to Dr. Schweinfurth, before the 
tongue of any animal is eaten, the tip has to be cut off, for here 
they say, is the seat of all curses and evil wishes ; and even the 
tongues of sheep and oxen are not served up until they have been 
subjected to this treatment. 

A profitable business is carried on in London and other large 
towns in animal offal for food. In the metropolis there are no 
less than ioo tripe-dressers, many of whom sell many varieties of 
animal offal prepared for food. The liver and the lungs, or as 
they are vulgarly termed lights, of some animals are eaten. The 
intestines are also used as food in the preparation of sausages 
and black puddings, whilst the thicker and fatter parts are eaten 
as tripe. 

The feet of animals consist of two chief chemical constituents of 
food, viz., oil and gelatine, and hence we have neat's foot oil 
(already alluded to) and calf s foot jelly. The oil has too strong a 
flavour to be used as food, and must be removed before the foot 
is eaten. This is effected by the application of heat after the 
free use of the knife, and as the foot is cooked by being boiled in 
water, it is necessary that the oil should be skimmed from the 
broth, that the latter may be fit for food.* 

Neat's foot oil, trotter oil, tallow oil, and all the other animal 
oils of commerce, are shown in the Animal Products Collection 
and Waste Products Collection of the Bethnal Green Museum. 

Gut and Bladder. — There is a larger and more important 
trade than is generally supposed in the preparation and applica- 
tion of the intestines of animals for various purposes. They 
serve for the preparation of goldbeater's skin, bladders, rackets, 
lashes or whipcords, sausage skins, cords for clock-makers, hat- 
* Dr. E. Smith "On Foods." 



USES OF GUT AND BLADDER. 167 

makers, grinders and polishers, and strings for musical instru- 
ments. Thirty years ago the value of these in Paris was set 
down at ^50,000 a year, and in London, from the much more 
extensive slaughter of animals, a far greater trade is carried 
on. 

The membrane of the intestines or blind-gut, of which gold- 
beater's skin is made, is remarkable for its strength and delicate 
fibrous construction. The manufacture, important as it is, rests 
in the hands of a very few manufacturers. The principal London 
maker uses up the skins taken off the gut of 10,000 oxen 
weekly. 

Great care is required in the manipulation and successive pro- 
cesses of drying, bleaching, and preparing, these skins being of 
the highest importance to the goldbeater, for the beating of gold 
and silver leaf. The gut or skin is stretched on frames, and to 
give them greater support two skins are doubled together, after 
which they are well cleansed and scraped to remove all super- 
fluous fibrous matter, and being well rinsed and dried are coated 
with a varnish. In its finished state this skin sells for ten to 
twelve guineas the mould of 850 small leaves, such a mould 
enabling the workman to beat out that quantity of gold leaves at 
one time. Each leaf in the mould being double, there are 1,700 
thicknesses of skin.* 

These membranes are of three kinds, an outside covering of 
common parchment, a set of leaves made of very fine and smooth 
calf-skin vellum, and another set of goldbeater's skin. 

Bullock's weasands or ox guts are cleaned and salted for expor- 
tation, to be used as covers to sausages and polonies. Besides 
the bladders obtained from our own slaughter-houses, we import a 
good many from the Continent. The imports of bladders in 1S70, 
the latest year for which there is any official record, were 652,361, 
valued at nearly ^3 000. 

Bullock's " bungs," as they are technically termed, are the 
* This manufacture is shown in case 173. 



168 USES OF BLOOD. 

largest, and more shapely than any other bladder. Bladders 
when brought to a clean and prepared state are specially useful 
to druggists, oilmen, colourmen, and other manufacturers as 
coverings for various kinds of vessels; they derive their value 
from their thinness, toughness, and impermeability to water. 
The bladders of the ox and other animals, when deprived of bits 
of loose membrane and other impurities, are washed in a weak 
solution of chloride of lime, rinsed in clean water, insufflated and 
submitted to pressure by rolling them under the arm, which 
stretches and enlarges them; then blown out quite tight, and 
fastened and dried.* See Cases 173 and 174. 

Uses of Blood. — Domestic economy and the industrial arts 
now use up a large quantity of the blood of animals which was 
formerly thrown away. The chief difficulty is that it is only 
possible to obtain it in quantity in extensive slaughter-houses, 
where many cattle are killed. 

Its most important use is for making blood albumen, a manu- 
facture which is carried on in this country and on the Continent, 
the product being cheaper than egg albumen. Blood is com- 
posed almost entirely of albuminous matter, of which 5 1 "44 per 
cent, is contained in the clot which forms after the blood has 
stood, and 48-16 per cent, remains dissolved in the serum. 

Two kinds of blood albumen are met with in commerce ; ordi- 
nary, of which there are two or three qualities, and patent, which 
is transparent and soluble, and used for mordanting yarns and 
cloth for dyeing. 

Ordinary albumen is prepared by adding a small quantity of 
spirits of turpentine to the serum and mixing it well, which 
bleaches it, and removes the grease. It is left to rest for 24 to 
36 hours, and the serum which has become clear is separated from 

* There is also a large and instructive display of all the economic uses of gut 
and bladder, in the Waste Products Collection, at the Bethnal Green Museum, 
formed by the author, of which a cheap special descriptive catalogue is 
published by the Science and Art Department. 



ALBUMEN AND DRIED BLOOD. 169 

the deposit. It is then dried on enamelled iron plates at from 
50 to 57 Cent, for two hours, and the temperature lowered to 
47 \ or 49 Cent, for the space of 36 hours. 

The patent or transparent albumen is prepared with diluted 
sulphuric and acetic acids and a further addition of turpentine, 
agitated for about an hour. It is then left for a day to rest, 
and the clear liquid drawn off, neutralised with ammonia, and 
dried. Ten pounds of serum will give about one pound of 
albumen.* 

The colouring matter of the blood, haemoglobin, may be obtained 
by evaporating its aqueous solution at a temperature below ioo° ; 
it then appears almost black, but resumes its red colour when dis- 
solved in water. Coagulated blood is sold to calico printers for 
dyeing Turkey-red, and to chemical manufacturers for preparing 
red liquor for printers' use. About 6000 tons are estimated to be 
thus employed. 

Dried blood serves to clarify wines, syrups, and other thick 
solutions. A very general use of blood is for manure, and it is one 
of the best fertilisers, equalling, in fact, powdered flesh. Blood 
for clarifying is of a good quality when it dissolves entirely in 
cold water, and when the solution of one pint of dry blood in ten 
of water, heated to boiling, produces an abundant scum and then 
leaves the liquor clear. An ounce of blood is usually sufficient to 
clarify a cask of wine. Dried blood used to be extensively em- 
ployed on the sugar estates in the colonies to separate the scum 
and sediments in sugar boiling. 

Attempts have frequently been made to utilise the blood of 
cattle as human food, but with little success, and yet it contains 
all the principles out of which tissues are formed, and hence must 
be eminently nutritious. 

In Sweden they prepare a very good bread for the poor made 
with blood from the slaughter-houses and wheat flour. The blood 

* The various blood albumens are shown in the Waste Products Collection 
at the Bethnal Green Museum. 



170 BLOOD FOR FOOD— USE OF GLUE. 

of most of the domestic animals might thus be extensively utilised. 
In Denmark, Professor Panum, of the University of Copenhagen, 
has recently drawn attention to the amount of nutritious matter 
contained in blood and usually entirely lost, which can be pre- 
served in forms suitable for food, as sausages, cakes, &c, mixed 
with fat, meal, sugar, salt, and a few spices. 

We eat the blood of pigs and sheep in black puddings, but the 
blood of cattle and calves we throw aside as waste, an anomaly 
difficult to understand. 

Recently a draught of blood has been recommended by phy- 
sicians in cases of pulmonary phthisis, and in Paris and Chicago 
numbers of patients are said to resort to the slaughter-houses 
to drink the still fuming blood ! This is somewhat like the practice 
of the African in Central Africa, who, Captain Burton tells us, 
severs one of the jugulars of a bullock and fastens upon it like a 
leech. This custom is common in Karagwah and the other 
northern kingdoms, and some tribes, like the Wanyeka near 
Mombasah, churn the blood with milk. 

The Chinese seem to have great faith in blood. They use 
as medicine the dried blood of many birds and animals. The 
blood of the goat they consider a specific in pleurisy. They 
open the jugulars of the deer and by a long tube drink as much 
blood as the stomach will support. The coagulated blood of 
the rhinoceros is also used in Siam medicinally in case of inward 
hurts. 

Glue is an important commercial animal product which re- 
quires a passing notice. The quantity annually used in this country 
probably exceeds 10,000 tons, of the aggregate value of fully 
^500,000, as the prices range from ^40 to ^75 per ton. Asa 
cementing substance glue is extensively used in every country. 

Many refuse products are used in its manufacture. Animal 
skin in every form uncombined with tannin may be made 
into glue. The substances most largely and generally employed 
are the parings of hides, and skins from the tanneries and slaughter- 



MANUFACTURE OF GLUE. 171 

houses known as " glue pieces," fleshings, calves' pates, &c, pelts 
from furriers, the hoofs and ears of horses, calves and sheep. 
The parings of ox and other thick hides make the strongest, and 
afford about 45 per cent, of glue. 

Dried sinews, sloughs, (the core or bony support inside horns,) 
fresh bones, with other offal and garbage, are other raw materials 
used for making glue and size. 

The commercial value of glue pieces ranges from ^18 to ^30, 
and when fleshed from ^30 to £\o per ton. Sheep glue pieces 
and fleshings are of much less value, the price being from ;£io 

t0 £ I 5 P er ton - 

The process of manufacturing glue is as follows. The fresh 
fleshings, as well as the clippings of other skins which contain 
fresh lime, are steeped for several hours in water acidulated with 
sulphuric acid. Old fleshings, in which the lime is killed by 
becoming carbonate, are merely washed with water; and these 
with other glue-making materials are put into large open boilers, 
called " glue-pans/' with water, and boiled for two or three hours 
by a naked fire, when glue is made, or by means of a steam-coil, 
when size is the product, until they are dissolved. The boiling 
gradually converts the " osseine " into gelatine, which is dissolved 
in the water. They are frequently stirred during this operation, 
in order that the fat may rise for collection. The liquid is then 
run off through a rough strainer into a tank, and allowed to settle 
for about half-an-hour, when it is either put into tubs and sent 
away as size, or it is allowed to set in wooden troughs, from 
which it is taken and cut up into blocks of glue about a foot 
square, which are subsequently further divided, by means of wire, 
into slabs and dried. The dry cakes are then dipped into hot 
water, and slightly rubbed with a brush to give them a gloss, and, 
lastly, stove-dried for sale. This furnishes the best and palest 
glue. The degree of concentration in making size is much less 
than that of glue, the point in the latter case being determined 
by the appearance of the cooked liquor upon a lump of alum. 



172 SIZE AND GELATINE. 

The residue in the glue-pans is a mass of fibrous matter, called 
" skutch," which often contains enough fat to pay for another ope- 
ration. The skutch is put into a boiler with enough sulphuric 
acid to dissolve the fibre (about 75 lbs. to a ton of skutch), and 
heated by high- pressure steam blown in it. Under this treatment 
the fibre dissolves, and so lets loose the fat, which rises to the 
surface. 

Good glue should contain no specks, but be transparent and 
clear when held up to the light. The best glue swells without 
melting when immersed in cold water, and it resumes its former 
size on drying. The best method for use is to steep small pieces 
in cold water for twelve hours, then set it over a fire and gradually 
raise its temperature until it is all dissolved. Amber-coloured 
glue is that most esteemed by cabinet-makers. 

Shreds or parings of vellum and parchment make an almost 
colourless glue ; old gloves, rabbit skins, and such like, are also 
used for making size and gelatine. 

Size is a weak solution of glue allowed to gelatinise. To trans- 
form glue into the gelatine of the shops it is simply necessary to 
dissolve it in water and allow it to settle. Clarifying agents are 
also used to destroy the last vestiges of colour. 

By the use of gelatine, elastic moulds are made capable of 
reproducing with accuracy, and in a single piece, the most elabo- 
rately sculptured objects of exquisite finish and delicacy. 

A gelatine is made from what is called "picker waste" — 
a picker is a band of buffalo hide used in driving the shuttles of 
power-looms. This gelatine or size is used for stiffening or dressing 
straw hats, silk, and other textile fabrics. The pieces cut off in 
making it are converted into gelatine for food purposes, but edible 
gelatine is also frequently made from sheep's trotters, old parch- 
ment, and waste pieces of glue. 

There is a very large and fine collection of the glues and 
gelatines made in various countries shown in the Animal Products 
Collection, Bethnal Green, see also Cases 129 and 134. 



174 BOILING DOWN CATTLE. 

Boiling down Cattle. — Sometimes, in large slaughtering 
establishments abroad, in Australia, or South America, the whole 
ox or sheep is sent to the melting-pot to be boiled down, for want 
of demand for its flesh or facilities for preserving it. 

In such cases, as for instance in the vast establishment of 
Mr. J. H. Atkinson, Collingwood, near Liverpool, New South 
Wales, 70 to 100 men are employed boiling down sheep and 
cattle : — As soon as the ox is killed, he is lifted for skinning 
by machinery, and when the hide, head, hoofs, &c, are removed, 
the carcase is let down on a chopping-block running on a tram- 
way ; it is then cut into convenient-sized pieces, without the 
necessity of the men handling or lifting the meat, and the trolley 
chopping-block run on the rails to the other end of the building, 
where the boilers are. The meat is then lifted from the chopping- 
block into the boilers by means of endless chains with hooks 
attached, passing over sheaves, and driven by steam. The 
boilers are large steam-tight double cylinders, and capable of 
holding upwards of fifty bullocks at a time. When filled with 
meat, the orifice in the top of the boiler is closed, and the steam 
is let on at a pressure of 15 lbs. to the inch. In about seven 
hours the whole mass of meat and bone is reduced to a pulp. 
The steam is then condensed, and the tallow floats on the surface. 
On a tap being turned, it flows into the refining-pans ; and when 
the refining is completed, by turning another tap, it runs into 
large shallow coolers. These are only about 3 inches deep, but 
very wide and long, in order that as great a surface as possible 
may be exposed to the air. When sufficiently cool, by turning 
other taps, the tallow is filled into casks alongside, and these are 
run by means of a tramway on to the weighing-machine, and 
thence to the rail for conveyance to Sydney. The mass of pulp 
to which both bone and flesh have by the steaming process been 
reduced, is then removed from the boilers by means of an opening 
near the bottom, fitted with a steam-tight door. It falls into 
a powerful press, also running on the tramways, and strong 



USES OF COW-HAIR. 175 

pressure being applied, a large quantity of highly concentrated 
soup is extracted; the flesh and bone having by the pressure 
been made into enormous solid cakes, the trolley-press is run into 
the piggery, and the greaves given to the pigs. The concentrated 
gravy or soup is then placed in a peculiarly constructed boiler, 
and reduced by evaporation to such a consistency that, when 
cold, it becomes solid, previously to which, however, it is run into 
bladders. It is, when cold, semi-transparent, of a rich reddish- 
brown colour, and sweet to the smell and taste, almost like con- 
fectionery. The first shipment from Sydney of this concentrated 
soup to England, was made in June 1862. An average bullock 
will yield about 20 lbs. weight of this portable soup. 

The above account applies to cattle which are wholly boiled 
down. The prime portions of the best beasts, however, instead 
of being carried on the tramway to the boilers, are run off to the 
salting-house. The process there need not be described, further 
than that every particle of bone is extracted previous to the meat 
being salted. The leaner portions, not suitable for the casks, are 
cut into strips, and made into what is known as charqui, or tasejo, 
a South American name for dried or jerked beef. Each bullock 
will yield on an average about 100 lbs. of charqui, and the market 
for it is understood to be practically unlimited. 

I need not go into the details of curing the hides, drying and 
smoking the tongues, extracting the oil from the hoofs, preparing 
the horns and leg-bones for the English market — or into the fell- 
mongering, or sorting, washing, and scouring of the wool — for 
large numbers of sheep are slaughtered, as well as cattle. From 
the abundance of water, however, all these processes are carried 
on with a degree of cleanliness and an absence of offensive smells 
most surprising. 

Cow-hai£. — Besides the cow-hair collected at home, about 3000 
tons are imported annually, chiefly from Germany and France. 
Russia ships about 64 tons. 

Cow-hair used to be extensively employed for mixing with 



1 76 USES OF COW-HAIR. 

mortar for building purposes. It is now matfe into felt for roofing, 
and for clothing boilers and pipes of steam-engines. It is used 
for twisting into rope, and stuffing sofas and chair cushions. In 
some parts of Germany carpets are made of cow-hair. The demand 
for cheapness has stimulated the makers of inferior textiles and 
blanketing to mix cow-hair with wool. It is also used in the fabri- 
cation of horse-cloths and railway rugs, and ladies may be inte- 
rested in knowing that the so-called cheap sealskins are made in 
the north of England from hair that used to go to the plasterers 
to bind their mortar. Wet cow-hair is sold at the tanneries for 
about 2S. 6d. sl bushel, and is washed and dried and the lime 
beaten out. White hair is worth nearly double the price of 
coloured hair. Plasterer's hair ranges from ^5 10s. to £2> 10s. 
the ton, washed cow-hair ;£ 10 to ^n the ton.* 

* The uses of cow-hair for felt and other purposes are shown both in the 
Animal Products Collection (Case 95) and in the Waste Products Collection 
at Bethnal Green Museum. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE DEER AND ANTELOPE TRIBES. 

Having considered the Bovines and their economic uses, we are next led 
to investigate another class of Ruminants — the Deer tribe, and to 
consider what products they furnish for the use of man. A I though 
not very common in civilised Europe, in many regions they are of 
essential importance, both for food and other purposes. The horns 
of these animals are first alluded to, their specialities and trade 
uses ; then the commerce and applications of deer skins receive 
notice; after that the various species of deer of any importance 
in an econo?nic point of view are described, including the rein- 
deer, musk-deer and its products w ^ th en P& ss on to the Antelope 
tribe, those of any special economic interest, as the eland, the 
spring- bok, and the gnu being noticed. 

The Deer Tribe. — Besides their flesh, which is eaten as food 
when obtainable, the products which the deer tribe supply to com- 
merce are chiefly antlers or horns, and skins. We shall speak 
first of the horns. 

There are several species of deer. For our purpose these may be 
divided into two groups, of which one includes those with antlers 
more or less flattened, the other those with rounded antlers. 

The elk (Alces) is the most characteristic species of the first 
group. The reindeer differs from the rest of the genus in the 
presence of antlers in both sexes, and in the great development 
of the brow antlers. The English park or fallow deer (Cervits 
dama, Dama platyceros) is referable to the flat horned group. 

The number of stags and hinds in Scotland is rather more than 

10,000.* 

* In the Bethnal Green Collection there are mounted heads of the fallow 
deer, male and female, of the roe, male and female, the red deer, male and 
emale, a fine head and antlers of the wapiti {Cervus canadensis), of the roebuck, 

N 



i 7 8 



COMPOSITION OF DEER-HORN. 



Deer-horn produces a great quantity of gelatine by decoction, 
and the raspings of deer's horn are occasionally employed in 
domestic economy to furnish what is supposed to be a nourishing 
jelly. The waste pieces are sometimes boiled down for size in 
the cloth-making districts. Submitted to the action of heat the 
product is the same as that of most animal substances. It used 
to be largely employed for the produce of ammonia. 




HEAD AND ANTLERS OF THE ARCTIC REINDEER. 

The first year the stag has properly no horns, but only a kind of 
corneous excrescence, short, rough, and covered, with a thin, hairy 

an unusually fine head and antlers of the Cervus axis, two heads with antlers 
of the reindeer, and varieties of deer horns from India, Siam, &c. ; also feet of 
the elk or moose formed into paper racks or pockets in Case 96 ; a stuffed head 
of the eland, and horns of the waterbok and various other antelopes. 



GROWTH OF STAG-HORN. 



179 



skin ; the second year the horns are single and straight ; the third 
year they have two antlers ; the fourth, three ; the fifth, four ; and 
the sixth, five. When arrived at the sixth year the antlers do not 
always increase, and though the number may amount to six or 
seven on each side, the stag's age is then estimated rather by 
the size and thickness of the branch that sustains them than 
from their number. The proportional length, direction, and 
curvature of the antlers vary, and it oftens happens that there is 
one more or less on the one side, than on the other ; the horns 
also become larger, the superficial furrows more marked, and the 
burr is more projecting. Nothwithstanding their magnitude, those 
horns are annually shed in the spring of the year, and succeeded 




STAGES OF GROWTH. 



by new ones. A full grown stag's horn frequently weighs 24 lbs., 
and the whole of this immense mass of true bone is produced in 
about ten weeks. 

The form of the horns diners at different ages ; but it is not so 
easy to tell the age of a stag by its horns. 

A correspondent in Land and Water thus describes the stages 
of growth. Eight or nine months after birth the horns appear as 
nearly straight branches, growing to the length of from six to 

N 2 



180 ANTLERS OF THE DEER. 

twelve inches. This single horn being cast, the two-year-old stag 
sets up his second pair, on which one side prong appears a few 
inches above the point of junction with the head. In the third 
year each horn acquires two ends. The lower prong increases in 
length, and is developed somewhat lower down on the horn. 
The upper prong is somewhat smaller than this. The third end 
preserves the character of the original single horn. In the next 
year the stag sets up four points on each horn, the lower prong 
drawing still nearer to the base, and the original horn breaking 
out into two points. The next stage is the development of 
points between the eye-end and the middle-end, which are 
materially smaller. In the next stage the two upper points form 
a crown. 

The stag is then called a stag of twelve points, or crown 
stag, or, as we say in Scotland, a Royal Stag. The cut on p. 179 
shows the progressive development up to twelve points, as given 
in Winckell's "Manual for Sportsmen," and Altum's "Forest 
Zoology." 

Up to the eighth or ninth year the density of the horns in- 
creases, and from that to the twelfth year the horns are in 
greatest perfection. The number of tiers or branches of the 
horn varies according to the age of the animal. At the present 
day the oldest stags in Scotland seldom present more than ten or 
twelve " points." There is a head still preserved at Mauritzberg 
which presents the enormous number of sixty-six points. It 
was killed by the first king of Prussia, and presented by that 
monarch to Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. 
In the Collection at the Chateau of Wohrad, the hunting resi- 
dence of the Lordship of Fauenberg, there are one hundred and 
nine stags' heads, of which only seventeen are under fourteen 
points. 

There are occasionally curious contortions in the horns. Mr. 
A. Murray, in the " Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," de- 
scribes those of an old reindeer, but small in size and with small 



USES OF BUCK-HORN. 



181 



horns. The horns have met with a distortion, by which they 
have a curious bend in the middle, as shown in this figure. The 
cause, whatever it may have been, has affected them both equally, 
which is not usually the case where horns are distorted. It may 
be that the poor animal, when its horns were still soft and young, 




got entangled among brushwood ; and that here is the silent evi- 
dence of long struggles on the part of the animal, and of perhaps 
days of famine before it succeeded in freeing itself from the bonds 
which held it. Or it may be merely a distortion consequent upon 
the old age of the animal, for we often find the horns in old deer 
stunted and distorted, although it is not usual to find them so 
symmetrically disfigured. 

The horns of the deer, more properly called "antlers/' are 
solid processes from the frontal bone, and possess the chemical 
and physical properties of true bone. After being sawn and filed 
to the required shape, the exterior is left in its rough and natural 
state, which, besides being ornamental, is well adapted for the 
handles of knives and instruments requiring a firm grasp. In the 
German States, very pretty and delicate objects are carved from 
this material. 

Buck-horn is principally used now for handles of carving-forks 



I»2 



ELK HORNS. 



and knives, pocket knives, solid or in scales, and fancy articles. 
It should be chosen with hard stems, like ivory, yellow and 
furrowed on the exterior, but of a heavy white in the interior. 

In Holland, Hamburg, and other parts of the Continent, buck- 
horn is more worked up into useful articles than in this country. 
At the various International Exhibitions many large fancy articles 
have been shown made of stag-horn, such as umbrella-stands, 
chandeliers with many lights, &c. In Switzerland the stag's-horn 
is manufactured into a variety of ornamental articles for per- 
sonal wear, such as brooches, pins, bracelets, and many other 
things. 

The stag-horn used in Sheffield for cutlery purposes is chiefly 
supplied from India and Ceylon, the shipments reaching about 
400 tons annually; and another 100 tons is obtained from Europe, 
from our own deer parks, and other sources. 

Of all the deer family the elk (not yet extinct in Germany and 
Scandinavia) has the largest horns. Those of the species in- 
habiting the hills and plains of India and Ceylon are also very 
heavy. From Southern Russia we have deer horns lighter than 
the Indian, but heavier than the German, and the antlers of the 
reindeer are lighter and more porous than any others. The 
surface is nearly white and smooth, and consequently they are 
much less valuable. 

The number of horns to the ton necessarily varies according to 
their size, ranging from 700 to 2,000. Taking the imports from 
the East at 350 tons, and assuming an average number of 1,400 
horns to the ton, it would appear that the " fall " as it is termed 
of 245,000 head of deer is annually collected there for the use of 
our manufacturers. The Greenland Company of Denmark receives 
about 30,000 reindeer's horns or antlers yearly. 

The fine elk horns exported from Germany are getting scarcer 
every year, for the forests decrease, and the native cutlery manufac- 
ture extends. 

The cut on the next page shows a pair of antlers in the Museum 



DEER HORNS. 



183 



•of the College of Surgeons, which have a span of 35 inches, and 
are 7 inches apart at the base. 




antlers of elk or moose (Alces machlis, Ogilby). 



The value of the different kinds of stag-horn is in the following 
order : German, Italian, Russian, and English. The total imports 
of stag-horn into Britain are estimated at about 700 tons yearly. 

Deer-horns form a large item of commerce, in many countries. 
About 26,000 pairs are annually shipped from Siam. In 1869, 
1,433 cwt. of deer-horns were shipped from Ceylon, valued at 
£2 per cwt. They consist of the horns of the Rusa deer 
(Cervus hififielaphus, Ogilby) and of the spotted deer {Axis 
maculata). In Cashmere the antlers of the Hungul or Persian 
deer {Cervus Wallichii) shed early in spring, are picked up in 
the forests by the villagers, and form an article of export traffic 
with Ladak. 

Deer Skins. — There is a large commerce in deer skins in 
various countries, although we do not receive very many here, 
probably about 80,000 are imported annually, for the most part 
undressed, which are tanned into leather for various purposes. 
About 1,000 cwt. are annually collected in Slavonia, about one 
third of which are exported. From Guatemala 35,171 skins were 
exported in 1874, valued as low as 4a 7 . per pound. From Vene- 
zuela about 300,000 skins of deer and other animals are annually 



1 84 DEER SKINS. 

exported. In the Museum Collection are skins of the reindeer 
and other deer. Case 97. 

Deer are found in great abundance in every part of the Minne- 
sota Territory and other portions of the Western States of America 
and the settlers during the winter season are usually well supplied 
with venison. The best haunches are worth from \d. to $d. per 
pound, and when properly cooked are savoury. 

The skins are valuable for many purposes, and are neatly 
dressed by the Indians, and manufactured into a great variety of 
useful and ornamental articles. Deer skins vary in price per 
pound, according to weight. An ordinary skin, weighing from 
eight to ten pounds, is worth from 5a 7 . to jd. per pound, while one 
weighing twelve or fifteen pounds is worth is. per pound. They 
average about 7 \d. 

In 1863 the Hudson's Bay Company imported 10,751 deer- 
skins ; but the average is seldom more than 3,000 a year. 

From 2,000 to 4,000 packs or bundles of deer skins reach New 
Orleans yearly by the Mississippi, which are valued at about -£$ 
the pack. Gloves and gauntlets of buck-skin are made in the 
United States, of the white tanned skins of the common deer. 
Deer skin leggings or breeches made of deer skin are much liked 
and used by the hunters in North West America. 

In the small Indian village of Lorette in Canada no less than 
2,500 deer skins, besides a large number of those of other wild 
animals, are worked up annually into winter shoes and mocassins, 
and as many as 20,000 pairs are made from that number, selling 
wholesale at an average of from one to two dollars per pair ; 1,000 
pair of raquettes or snow shoes, selling at from three to six dollars 
a pair ; 300 Indian sleds or toboganes selling at from one to two 
dollars a pair; besides a quantity of ornamental articles of consider- 
able value — thus yielding a return of upwards of ^7,000 to the 
hunters and natives of this one village for their year's industry. 

Deer hair when it can be obtained is used for stuffing saddles, 
for which it is a good material. Case 96 contains samples of deer 



DEER HAIR. 



185 



hair and fancy Indian embroidery work made with it in Canada, 
slippers, baskets, &c. 



e 




DEER HAIR MAGNIFIED. 



It, has been made known by Professor Busk, that the hair of 
the deer tribe is peculiar, being almost entirely cellular ; and the 
hair has been described and figured by Dr. Inman in an able 
paper, " On the Natural History and Microscopic Character of 
Hair," published in the Proceedings of the Literary and Philo- 
sophical Society of Liverpool. The subject here figured is the 
skin and hair of one of the North American reindeer • but the 
structure seems to be the same in all deer — in the moose, the 
red-deer, roe-deer, musk-deer, &c, but not in the antelopes. 

The figure on the right hand represents a somewhat magnified 
portion of the skin, with both kinds of hair issuing from it ; the 
left-hand figure represents a more highly magnified small hair; 
the upper centre figure shows a highly magnified portion of the 



1 86 DESCRIPTION OF DEER HAIR. 

large hair ; the lower centre figure, a transverse section of this ; 
and the middle centre, a longitudinal section. 

Dr. Inman says : " In the deer the cells are so numerous as to 
occupy the whole of the body of the hair, and so irregular that no 
particular place of subdivision can be traced." And his figure 
quite corresponds with this, the cells being there shown as 
amorphous ; but it will be seen from the above figure that they 
are truly polygonal — for the most part hexagonal. There are 
very distinct septa and lines of separation. 

"It is held by physiologists that both these kinds ot hair are 
modelled on the same plan, viz., that of a cellular interior sur- 
rounded by a horny cortical exterior, and that the difference in 
texture arises from the difference in the extent of development of 
the internal cellular pith, or of the external cortical covering : in 
the one extreme forming the soft hair of the deer ; in the other, 
the hard bristle of the sow. This view recommends itself by its 
simplicity, and the unity of the modus operandi ; but although it 
may be correct, so far as it goes, it does not explain the whole of 
the phenomena. For example, it does not explain why the hairs, 
where the horny covering predominates, are imbricated, while 
those which are cellular are not ; and it is to be observed that 
there is a w r ant of transition between the two characters of hair, 
which certainly is opposed to a common mode of development. 
If it were the same, we ought to find hairs exhibiting all the gra- 
dations of passage between the two extremes, which we do not. 
Furthermore, they appear to be designed for different purposes. 
Speaking in a general way, the horny or bristly hair is charac- 
teristic either of carnivorous animals, who have a greater supply 
of caloric than vegetable feeders, or of graminivorous animals 
inhabiting warm climates ; while the cellular hairs in question are 
confined to the deer tribe, most of whom inhabit cold climates. 
It has usually been said, that the fine hair found at the roots of 
the coarser hair in these animals is an additional provision of 
nature for the warmth of the animal. It rather appears to me, 




■ft ! 



1 88 THE MOOSE OR ELK. 

that, in the deer at least, it is the larger cellular hairs which have 
been added for this purpose (no one can look at them, I think, 
without seeing how admirably they are adapted for this), and that 
the horny hairs, whose office may possibly be as much that of a 
regulator of temperature as of a heating apparatus, are the normal 
hairs of the animal reduced to the smallest dimensions. If these 
two kinds of hair have distinct functions, their mode of develop- 
ment may also possess distinctive characters. We see that their 
roots extend to very different depths in the skin, and although we 
know that the hair is a mere appendage of the skin, produced by 
its involution or evolution, it may be that by drawing more of its 
substance from one layer than from another, the differences in 
its appearance which we have been considering are produced." * 

Deers' sinews, dried, are esteemed a great food dainty in China, 
and some other eastern countries. The hoofs grated are also used 
medicinally to cure wounds. 

Some half dozen species of Asiatic deer, according to Dr. 
Sclater, constitute the Rusine group, of which the Sambur 
(Ccrvus Aristotelis) may be taken as the type. Their antlers 
have but three points, are comparatively short in the beam ; but 
especially in Ceylon these attain an immense thickness. Mr. 
Bates states that he has killed bucks carrying heads which mea- 
sured eight inches in circumference at the burrs. 

The flesh of the Rusa deer is considered a delicate morsel in 
Java and Borneo. 

The Virginian deer (Cariaciis Virgimanus) is still found in large 
numbers in the unsettled parts of North America, and is an animal 
of great importance to the Indians, who appreciate and cure its 
flesh for winter provision. 

The Moose or Elk (Ccrvus A Ices, Richardson ; Alces Ameri- 
canus, Baird ; Alces machlis, Ogilby), inhabits the northern part of 
both continents. This deer is in size rather larger than a horse. 

* Andrew Murray, Esq., in the "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," 
New Series, April, 1856. 



PRODUCTS OF THE MOOSE. 189 

Its flesh is more relished by the Indians and persons resident in 
the fur countries, than that of any other animal. It bears a greater 
resemblance in its flavour to beef than to venison. It is said that 
the external fat is soft, like that of a breast of mutton, and when 
put into a bladder is as fine as marrow. In this it differs from all 
other species of deer, of which the external fat is hard. 

The tough skin of the elk has been put to various uses. In 
Sweden a regiment was clothed with waistcoats made of this 
material, which was so thick as to resist a musket ball. When 
made into breeches, a pair of them among the peasantry of 
former days, went as a legacy through several generations. 

A buck in its grease will weigh as much as 800 lbs., without the 
offal. When in good condition, the flesh is sweet and tender, and is 
highly esteemed as an article of food; but should the animal be poor, 
or have been subject to violent exertion previously to death, the 
meat is scarcely eatable. The moufle, or loose covering of the nose, 
is considered by epicures the greatest delicacy of the north-west, 
contesting the palm with bear's paw, beaver tail, reindeer tongue, 
buffalo boss, and sheep ribs. The Indians sometimes snare the 
moose ; and in the spring, when the action of the sun has formed 
a thick crust upon the snow, they drive them into drifts, and spear 
them in numbers. It is not a gregarious animal, and to hunt it 
requires more skill than is necessary in the pursuit of either rein- 
deer or buffalo. The moose furnishes an excellent hide for moccas- 
sins and snow shoes in America, the best skin is from the bull 
moose in October, and usually sells for about sixteen shillings. 

The uses to which the various parts of the moose are put are 
many. The hide supplies parchment, leather, lines, and cords ; 
the sinews yield thread and glue ; the horns serve for handles to 
knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of; the shank bones 
are employed as tools to dress leather with ; and with a particular 
portion of the hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider 
garments. 

To make leather and parchment, the hide is first divested of the 



i 9 o USEFUL PRODUCTS OF THE MOOSE. 

hair by scraping, and all pieces of raw flesh being cut away, if then 
washed, stretched, and dried, it become parchment. In convert- 
ing this into leather a further process of steeping, scraping, rubbing, 
and smearing with brains has to be gone through, after which it is 
stretched and dried, and then smoked over a fire of rotten wood, 
which imparts a lively yellow colour to it. The article is then ready 
for service. Of parchment, as such, the Chipewyans make little 
use, but the residents avail themselves of it, in place of glass for 
windows, for constructing the sides of dog-carioles, and for making 
glue. The leather is serviceable in a variety of ways, but is 
principally made up into tents and articles of clothing, and in the 
fabrication of dog-harnesses and fine cords, wallets, &c. The 
capotes, gowns, firebags, mittens, moccasins, and trowsers made 
of it are often richly ornamented with quills and beads, and when 
new, look very neat and becoming. The best Indian dressers of 
leather in the Canadian dominion are the Slave Lake Chipewyans 
and those of the Liard's River. 

The lines and cords are of various sizes, the largest being used 
for sled lines and pack-cords ; the smaller answer for lacing snow- 
shoes and other purposes. In order to make sled lines pliant — a 
very necessary quality when the temperature is 40 deg. or 50 deg. 
below zero Fahrt. — the cord is first soaked in fat fish liquor, it 
is then dried in the frost, and afterwards rubbed by hauling it 
through the eye of an axe ; to complete the operation it is well 
greased, and any hard lumps masticated until they become soft, 
by which process a line is produced of great strength and pliancy, 
and which is not liable to crack in the most severe cold. 

To obtain thread, the fibres of the sinews are separated and 
twisted into the required sizes. The moose furnishes the best 
quality of this article, which is used by the natives to sew both 
leather and cloth, to make rabbit snares, and to weave into fishing 
nets. Sinews can be boiled down into an excellent glue or size. 

In mounting knives and awls with horn, lead, copper, and iron 
are used for inlaying, and rather handsome articles are sometimes 



J HE REINDEER. 



191 



produced. The making of spoons, tipping of arrows, carving of 
fish-hooks, stuffing of dog-collars, and embroidering with hair need 
no particular comment. [Mr. B. R. Ross, of the Hudson's Bay 
Company, in the " Technologist/' vol. ii., p. 260]. 

The reindeer {Tar audits arcticus, Rich.), occupies a band of 
country fringing the polar zone in Northern Europe and Asia. 




THE REINDEER. 

It replaces the horse and the ox in a climate where these animals 
could not be utilised. In the Russian empire there are computed 
to be about one million, of which 680,000 are in Europe, chiefly 
in the governments of Archangel, Vologda, and Perm. In Siberia 
there are more than 300,000. The Koraks of Eastern Siberia 
who are nomads, and live in skin tents like the Tongouses, have 
immense herds of reindeer, some tribes own not less than 15,000. 
These supply their food, clothing, and means of transport. Their 
gut forms an excellent a twine, and their bones serve to make 
various tools and arms, and enter into the formation of their 
sledges and vehicles which are often of elegant construction. 
The pride of the Laplanders is also to have large herds of rein- 
deer for their sledges. They drink their milk and make cheese 
of it ; they clothe themselves with the skins, and eat their flesh, 
which is good. 



192 



STATISTICS 01 REINDEER. 



In Norway, in 1865, there were stated to be 102,000 reindeer, — 
of which about 60,000 were in Finmark. The possession of 300 
reindeer constitutes the independence of a family; 500 riches. 
Some possess as many as 1,000. In October a fifth or a sixth are 
killed for food. A fine reindeer will sometimes yield 120 lbs. of 
meat and 40 of tallow. 




ESQUIMAUX DOGS KILLING A REINDEER. 

In America the reindeer is confined almost entirely to the 
"Barren-grounds" (whence it takes its common name), the north- 
eastern corner of North America, along the Polar Sea, bounded to 
the west by Great Slave, Athabasca, Wollaston, and Deer lakes, 
and the Copper Mine River, and to the south by Churchill river. 
Here the Barren-ground reindeer graze by thousands, accompanied 
by the musk ox, another characteristic inhabitant. Being so 



THE BARREN-GROUND REINDEER. 193 

plentiful it is termed the common deer by the hunters, just as the 
Cervus Virginianus bears this name in the United States. There 
would seem to be two varieties, if not distinct species, of this 
animal met with ; one termed the Strong-wood reindeer, which 
inhabits the thickly-wooded parts of the district, particularly among 
and in the vicinity of the mountain-ranges, where they are of very 
large size. Though smaller than the moose, these deer are of 
considerable bulk, and weigh up to 300 lbs. In most particulars 
they resemble the Barren-ground species, differing from it in the 
following points : — smaller horns, darker colour, larger size, not 
being so gregarious, and not migrating. The only hides service- 
able for converting into leather are those of animals killed early 
in the winter, which, when subjected to the process already de- 
scribed, and bleached in the frost, instead of being smoked, furnish 
a most beautiful, even, and white leather, which is used for shoe- 
tops, and is embroidered with quills and silk. 

The Barren-ground reindeer, during the summer and spring 
months, frequent the barren plains lying between the wooded 
country and the shores of Hudson's Bay and the Arctic Sea. 
Their migrations, which are performed with wonderful regularity, 
are as follows : They leave the shelter of the woods in the end of 
March and beginning of April, and resort to the plains where they 
feed on various kinds of lichens and mosses, gradually moving 
northward until they reach the coast, where they bring forth their 
young in the beginning of June ; in July they begin to retire from 
the sea-board, and in October rest on the edge of the wood, where 
they remain during the cold of winter. The horns of these deer 
are much varied in shape, scarcely any two animals having them 
precisely alike. The old males shed theirs in April, and the gravid 
females in May. Their hair falls in July, but begins to loosen in 
May. Their new coat is darkish brown and short ; but it gradually 
lengthens, and becomes lighter in colour, until it assumes the 
slate-grey tint of winter. The flesh, when in prime condition, is 
very sweet, but bucks, when in season, have their fat strongly 



194 USES OF THE REINDEER. 

impregnated with the flavour of garlic, which, indeed, is always 
present more or less. 

The shortness of the hair of the Caribou or Barren-ground 
reindeer, and the lightness of the skin when properly dressed, 
render it the most appropriate article for winter clothing in high 
latitudes. The skins of the young deer make the best dresses \ 
and the animals should be killed for that purpose in August, as 
after that month the hair becomes long and brittle. They are so 
drilled into holes by the larvae of the gad-fly that eight or ten skins 
are required to make a suit of clothes for a grown person. But 
the skins are so impervious to cold that, with the addition of a 
blanket of the same material, any person may bivouac in the snow 
with safety, and even with comfort in the most intense cold of an 
arctic winter's night. 

Every part of the carcase serves the natives for food. The 
hunter breaks the leg of a recently slaughtered deer and swallows 
the marrow, still warm, with avidity ; the kidneys, and other parts 
of the intestines are also eaten raw ; the colon, or large gut, when 
roasted or boiled, with all its fatty appendages, is one of the most 
savoury dishes that can be offered, either to Indian or white 
settler in North America. The stomach, with its contents of 
lichens and other vegetables, is also eaten — the latter substances 
being much more easily digested after they have partially under- 
gone that process by the gastric juice of a ruminating animal. 
Some Indians and Canadians leave this savoury mixture to 
ferment or season for a few days before they eat it. The blood, 
if mixed in proper proportion with fat meat, and cooked with 
some nicety, forms a rich and highly nutritious soup. After all 
the flesh is consumed, the bones are pounded, and a large 
quantity of marrow extracted by boiling ; this is employed in 
preparing pemmican. 

Reindeer's tongues are much liked by many in this country, 
large quantities being imported annually from - Russia. They 
are snow cured, no salt whatever being used, the mildness and 



REINDEER SKINS. 195 

richness of flavour in the meat is preserved, and they are rendered 
extremely acceptable to refined palates. 

In North America the reindeer supplies the Chipewyans, 
Copper Indians, Yellow Knife, Dog Rib, and Slave Indians, with 
food, who would be totally unable to inhabit their barren lands 
were it not for the immense herds of this deer that exist there. Of 
the horns they form their fish-spears and hooks ; and previously 
to the introduction of iron by the traders, ice chisels and various 
other utensils were made of them. In dressing the skins, the 
shinbone split longitudinally, is used for the purpose of scraping 
off the hair, after it has been repeatedly moistened and rubbed. 
The skins are then smeared with the brains of the animal until 
these acquire a soft, spongy character, and lastly are suspended 
over a fire made of rotten wood, until thoroughly impregnated 
with the smoke. This last mentioned process imparts a peculiar 
odour to the leather, and has the effect of preventing its becoming 
so hard, after being wet, as it would otherwise be. The skins 
thus dressed are used as winter clothing; and 60 or 70 sewn 
together will make a covering for a tent sufficient for the residence 
of a large family. Their clothing for winter is made out of fawn 
skins/ dressed with the hair on, and consists of capotes, gowns,, 
shirts, leggings, mittens, socks, and robes, which are warm, and 
when new, nice looking. Hides which are so much perforated by 
the larvae of the oestrus as to be unfit for any other purpose, are 
converted into babiche, to make which the skin is first divested of 
hair and all fleshy matter ; it is then with a knife cut into the de- 
sired thickness, the operation beginning in the centre of the skin. 
There are two sizes of this article : the larger being used for 
barring sleds and for the foot-lacing of snow-shoes ; the smaller as 
a species of thread for sewing leather, for the fine netting of snow- 
shoes, and for lacing, fishing, and beaver nets. [B. R. Ross.] 

The undressed hide, after the hair is taken off, is cut into thongs 
of various thickness, which are twisted into deer snares, bow- 
strings, net-lines, and in fact, supply all the purposes of rope. The 



196 USES OF THE REINDEER. 

finer thongs are used in the manufacture of fishing nets, or in 
making snow shoes, while the tendons of the dorsal muscles are 
split into fine and excellent sewing thread. In some instances the 
skin is so finely dressed that it equals chamois leather. 

The caribou travel in herds, varying in number from eight or 
ten to one hundred thousand. 

The number of reindeer killed annually in South Greenland 
has much decreased of late years. It used to average over 18,000 
head. In the five years from 1840 to 1845, it was calculated that 
on an average, 16,000 were killed yearly, from 185 1 to 1855, only 
about half this number were killed, and it is probably now less. 
The Greenland Company only sold 637 skins in 1861. When 
nunting, the Greenlanders merely use the flesh as they want 
it for their daily meals, and let the rest lie without putting it to 
any use. The animals are generally shot a long way up in the 
country, and consequently from the difficulty of conveying them to 
their huts, a great part is often left to waste on the ground. The 
flesh is often exchanged by the Laplanders for flour. The gloves 
which are sold as real Swedish gloves are obtained from the young 
whose mother has died before giving birth, which is rare. It 
takes three of these skins to make two pair of gloves. Each skin 
costs in Sweden $s. or 4^. 

Dall, in his work on Alaska, states that at one village he 
counted 1072 bunches of fresh skins of the reindeer fawn hanging 
up to dry. As each bunch contained four skins, or enough to 
make a "parka," this would (he adds) give a total of nearly 
4300 of these little creatures which had been killed in two 
months. 

The Laplanders also use part of the entrails for making a kind 
of thread or cord which is difficult to break, and which is much 
sought for in England. Under the name of wire of Lapland, a 
fine slender substance was formerly prepared by the Laplanders, 
in thickness and appearance resembling our silver wire. It was 
made of the sinews of the reindeer, reduced to the finest fila- 



THE MUSK DEER. 197 

ments and then drawn through melted tin for the purpose of 
coating it with that metal. 

The milk of the reindeer constitutes the food of the wandering 
Laplanders during the great part of the year. 

The stag, or red deer (Cervus Elap/ws), the fallow deer (Dama 
vulgaris), and the roebuck ( Capreolus caprcea), are hunted for their 
flesh, and their skin and horns are applied to economic uses, 
similar to those already described. 

Musk deer (Moschus moschiferus, Lin.). — This animal, which 
inhabits the mountains of China, Thibet, and Siberia, is the source 
of the musk of commerce, a perfume which is in demand in nearly 




MUSK DEER. 

every part of the civilized world. There is a good stuffed speci- 
men of the animal in the Bethnal Green Museum. Musk is one 
of the most permanent of all odours, and heightens the aroma 
of many other perfumes. In the animal kingdom there are 
several other animals pervaded with the musky odour, such as the 
musk rats of India, Europe, and America, the musk ox and the 
buffalo, the alligator and crocodile, some birds and insects. 

In most of the Hill States the musk deer is considered as royal 
property. In some the Rajahs keep men purposely to hunt it, 
and in Gurhwal a fine is imposed on any who are known to have 
sold a musk pod to a stranger, the Rajah receiving them in lieu of 
rent. 



198 THE TRADE IN MUSK. 

It is only from the follicles or pouches of the male deer that 
the musk is obtained, and in some adult males the pod may 
contain as much as two ounces. An ounce is about an average ; 
and as many of the deer are killed when young, the pods brought 
to market may be taken to average all round only about half an 
ounce. A single grain of musk will fill the air of a large apart- 



















HUNTING-PIECE, FROM A CHINESE DRAWING, IN WHICH DEER, 
LEOPARD, AND MUSK-DEER CAN BE SEEN. 

ment with a sensible impregnation for many years without its 
weight being perceptibly diminished, and one part can communi- 
cate its odour to 3,000 parts of an inodorous powder. Our 
imports of musk range from 10,000 to 17,000 ounces yearly. The 
exports from British India in 1875 were 7,403 ounces. 

The musk bags or sacs, after the grain musk has been extracted, 
are used by perfumers to prepare essence of musk.* 

There are two commercial kinds of this musk, named after the 
countries where they are obtained, the Tonquin or Thibet musk, 



* For these illustrations we are indebted to Rimmel's " History of Perfumes. 



THE ANTELOPE TRIBE. 199 

imported from India, and the Kabardin or Siberian musk which 
comes through St. Petersburgh or by the way of China. Although 
the musky odour penetrates the whole animal, its flesh is said to 
be eaten by the natives. The skin is manufactured into furs and 
leather. 




MUSK POD, NATURAL SIZE. 

The Antelope Tribe. — These animals are confined to the old 
world, but in no other part are so many varieties of the family 
seen as in South Africa, over large districts of which they wander. 
Not less than twenty-seven species, from the stately blackbok 
down to the diminutive blaabok or pigmy antelope, many of 
which, however, are found in other parts of the continent, are 
reckoned south of 20 of S. latitude ; of these the largest, the 
eland, is still met with in the western parts of Natal, and more 
plentifully in the Zulu country, the Transvaal territory, the Kali- 
hari, the Betchouanaland and the Ngami regions. It was once 
very common in every part of the Cape colony, as the numerous 
localities called by its name testify. 

The Eland {Oreas Canna, Boselaphus oreas 7 Gray). — Among 
the known species of antelopes, which are not less than 80 in 
number, there are none more imposing from its size or more 
interesting in an economic point of view, than the Eland. Sir 
Cornwallis Harris speaking of it says : — " In shape and general 



200 



FLESH OF THE ELAND. 



aspect, he resembles a Guzerat ox, not unfrequently attaining the 
height of nineteen hands at the withers, and absolutely weighing 
from fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds ! By all classes in 
Africa the flesh of the eland is deservedly esteemed over that of 
any other animal. Both in grain and colour it resembles beef, 
but is far better tasted and more delicate, possessing a fine game 
flavour, and exhibiting the most tempting looking layers of fat 
and lean, the surprising quantity of the former ingredient with 




WHITE-EARED ANTELOPE {A. kucotes), MALE, CENTRAL AFRICA. 

which it is interlarded exceeding that of any other game quad- 
ruped with which I am acquainted. The venison fairly melts in the 
mouth, and as for the brisket, that is absolutely a cut for a mon- 
arch. During the greater part of our journey it was to the flesh of 
this goodly beast that we principally looked for our daily rations, 
both on account of its vast superiority over all other wild flesh, 
and from the circumstance of its being obtainable in larger 
quantities with comparatively less labour." 

Lichtenstein, in his " African Travels," states that the meat is 
cut in pieces on the spot, salted and packed in the skins, and 
some of it is smoked. The great muscles of the thigh, smoked, 
is more particularly esteemed ; these are cut out at their whole 






THE SPRINGBOK. 201 

length, and from the resemblance they bear to bullocks' tongues 
are called by the Dutch thigh-tongues. They are eaten raw with 
bread and butter, cut into very thin slices. The taste of eland's 
flesh when eaten fresh resembles beef. The skins are much 
esteemed for making leather, and the horns are formed into 
tobacco pipes. The eland has been introduced and acclimatised 
in Europe. 

The Springbok {Gazella euchore, Antidorcas enchore, Gray). — 
This antelope is numerous between lat. ,27° and 32 S. It is gre- 
garious and found in flocks of many thousands, and is common 
throughout Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Barbary, Greece, and the Holy 
Land. The flesh is in universal esteem among all the people. It is 
fine flavoured when fat, and of a delicate taste. The Moors keep 
it in confinement as a pet. Jules Gerard tells us that its dung 
dried in the sun and reduced to powder, gives a very agreeable 
flavour and odour to the tobacco smoked in Algiers. The horns 
of the springbok are shaped like a jews-harp, are twelve to 
fifteen inches long, and annulated to within three inches of the 
tips. 

The bok much resembles the English deer, with short, straight, 
or curved horns, instead of antlers. Of these there are a con- 
siderable variety, and a very great number in every district of 
South Africa. Some, as the bushbok (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) 
have comparatively short necks and legs, with a stout, closely- 
knit frame, standing scarcely higher than sheep; others, as the 
rheebok {Eleotragus capreolus, Gray), are tall and stately, with long 
legs, long straight necks, and straight horns, with an exterior twist 
at the roots. The flesh of the bok (pronounced like our English 
word buck) makes very fine venison when properly dressed, and 
the legs and shoulders of the animal are much esteemed as a 
relish when dried down into biltong, a most convenient and 
palatable article of diet, perfectly familiar to the colonists. In 
this form it can be kept almost any length of time, and has 
frequently been brought to England. It is extremely nourishing 



202 KAROSSES OR SKIN CLOAKS. 

and digestible, and can often be taken by individuals when other 
food is rejected by the stomach.* 

Superb karosses or cloaks are made and worn by the Kafir 
chiefs, composed of the skins of antelopes and other wild animals 
neatly sewn together, among which the leopard skin, jackal, and 
fox skin, seem to predominate. They are much valued for the 
variety and beauty of the skins of which they are composed, as 
well as for the neatness of the workmanship, all the pieces being 
sewed together with sinew. Hundreds, if not thousands, of these 
are purchased annually by traders and sent into the markets of 
the Cape Colony for sale. A good one will fetch £% or £g. 

In former times the occasional migrations of the springboks 
into the settled districts of the Cape Colony used to be looked 
upon with dread. The number of these animals sometimes seen 
in the Karroo Plains, within a compass of fifty miles, has been 
computed to be at least 100,000. It is scarcely possible for a 
person passing over the extensive tracts of the interior and admir- 
ing this elegant antelope, thinly scattered over the plains and 
bounding in playful innocence, to figure to himself that these 
ornaments of the desert can often become as destructive as the 
locusts themselves. The incredible number which sometimes 
pour in from the north, during protracted droughts, distress the 
farmer inconceivably. Dr. Livingstone states that in their migra- 
tions, when first they cross the colonial boundary, they are said to 
exceed forty thousand in number. 

He also mentions that great numbers of wild animals, gnus, 
koodoos, zebras, &c, die from pleuro-pneumonia, although 
the mortality produces no sensible diminution in the quantity of 
game. He inculcates, therefore, caution, for " when the flesh of 
animals that have died from the disease is eaten it causes a 
malignant carbuncle ; and when this appears over any important 
organ it proves rapidly fatal. It is more especially dangerous 

* Silver's " Handbook for South Africa." 



VAST NUMBERS OF SPRINGBOK. 



203 



over the pit of the stomach. The effects of the poison have been 
experienced by missionaries who have partaken of food not 
visibly affected by the disease. Many of the Bakwains who per- 
sisted in devouring the flesh of animals which had perished from 
the distemper died in consequence. The virus is destroyed 
neither by boiling nor roasting. This fact, of which we have had 
innumerable examples, shows the superiority of experiments on a 
large scale to those of physiologists in the laboratory, for a well 
known physician of Paris, after careful investigation, considered 
that the virus was completely neutralized by boiling." 




bastard gemsbok (Antilope leucophaa, Pallas). 



The Gnu. — There are two well denned species of this ante- 
lope. 1. The common black gnu or kokoon of the Bechuanas 
{Catoblepas \Connochetes\ Gnu), which is found in the plains of 
the Free State and the Transvaal, with horns bent forward and 
downwards, points bent at an acute angle upward. Their length 
being 26 inches. 

2. The brindled gnu, or "wilde beeste" of the Hottentots 



2o 4 THE GNU AND GIRAFFE. 

(Comiochetes Gorgon); with horns 1 8 to 20 inches long, bent out- 
ward, the points bend over at acute angles towards each other. 
Of late years large quantities of the skins have come into com- 
merce, as they make excellent bands for machinery. In 187 1 as 
many as 34,622 dry gnu hides were sold in London. In 1874 
no fewer than 20,000 gnus were destroyed in South Africa for 
their hides. 

The Giraffe (Camelopardal/s Giraffa) is hunted in Kordofan 
chiefly for its flesh, which is eaten — that of the young is said to 
be delicate — and for the stout skin, from which bucklers and 
sandals are made. The bones have also been imported for 
cutlers' use, as handles. The giraffes brought to Europe come 
generally from Nubia and Sennaar. In South Africa the giraffe 
has long since retired before the tide of colonial emigration, and 
is not to be met with south of Kolobeng, a point 380 miles north 
of the Orange River. The Hottentots in Southern Africa used 
to hunt the animal principally on account of its marrow, which is 
a delicacy they set a high value on. 

The following list of other species of antelopes, with their com- 
mon and scientific names, found in South Africa, may be found 
useful for reference, althougji they do not demand special notice 
or description : — Koodoo (Strepsiceros capensz's, Harris), sable 
antelope (jEgocerus niger), roan antelope (sEgocerus equina), 
waterbok (sEgocerus ellipsypry?nnus). Hartebeeste (Acronotus 
[Alcelaphus] caama), bastard hartebeeste or sayssabe {Acronotus 
lunata, or Damalis lunafus), pallah or red bushbok (Antilope 
[sEgoceros] melampus), bontebok (Gazella [Damalis] pygarga), 
blesbok (Gazella [Damans'] albifrons), bushbok (Tragelaphus syl- 
vaticus), rheebok (Redunca capreolus), rietbok (Redunca eleotragus, 
Eleotragus arundinaceus, Gray), small rietbok (Redunca isabellina), 
rooi rheebok (Redimca Lalandii), oribe (Antilope scoparia, Scopo- 
phorus ourebi), duiker bok (Cephalophus mergens), steinbok (Tra- 
gulus rupestris), klipspringer (Oreotragus saltatrix, Harris), grysbok 
(Calotragus melanotis, Gray), bluebok or kleinbok (Cephalophus 



VARIETIES OF ANTELOPE. 



205 



caeruka), and gemsbok {Oryx Gazelld). The flesh of the gems- 
bok ranks next to the eland, and at certain seasons of the year 
they carry a great quantity of fat. Some smaller doubtful species 
have been described. 




WATERBOK {Aniilope \Kobns\ ellipsyprymna, Ogilby). 



CHAPTER VI. 

FURS AND THE FUR TRADE. 

In this chapter the early use of furs is glanced at, the %reat Arctic 
hunting fields of Europe, Asia, and America, are described— the 
trade and statistics of furs given in detail — the dressing, dyeing, 
and preparing of skins for furs. The trade carried on by the 
Hudson's Bay Company and dealers in the United States, Russia, 
and Germany, receives notice, with the value of imported furs, 
preparatory to detailed accounts of the principal fur bearing 
animals ^ to be described in subseque?it pages. 

Although nearly all the orders of the Mammalia supply- 
peltries, it is those of the Carnivora and Rodentia which are 
chiefly valuable to commerce. Peltries is the name given to skins 
prepared with the hair on, intended for furs. 

To trace the origin of the trade in skins and furs would imply 
a study on the origin of the human race. Necessity, the mother 
of invention, soon suggested to the inhabitants of the globe that 
as nature had not clothed them with sufficient warmth they had 
better appropriate the skins of animals well provided in this 
respect. Unaided by experience, without defensive or offensive 
arms, possessing no knowledge of the different metals which 
modern society has converted into fearful weapons of destruction, 
pursued by the large animals, reduced to inhabiting crevices in 
the rocks and the borders of lakes and rivers for the sake of 
shelter — man, by his physical organization, was obliged to declare 
war against all the beings of creation, attacking some as useful 
auxiliaries to satisfy his daily wants, and others to help him to 
wage implacable and terrible war against those animals whose 
nature and instincts precluded them from participating and 



EARLY HISTORY OF THE EUR TRADE. 207 

assisting in the organization of society. The victims of the war 
thus pursued, supplied him with his daily food, and their skins, 
detached from the flesh by means of sharpened stones, were dried 
in the sun and then energetically rubbed with the oil and grease 
extracted from the intestines of the slaughtered animals. With 
porous stones a polish could be added to the skins, and thus the 
hides of the bullocks, horses, stags and other large animals were 
preserved, and employed to make the tents which sheltered the 
early patriarchs. Lions, tigers, panthers, the whole feline race, 
together with smaller animals, and even birds, helped either to 
shelter or clothe man, and afforded wearing apparel in which he 
was able to glorify himself in the presence of his fellow men. 

Gradually the skins were freed from the adhering particles of 
flesh which invariably remain when the skins are merely wrenched 
off the dead animals. With bone, stone, and iron instruments this 
inconvenience was obviated, and then the skins were washed in 
water so as to rid them of the blood and open the pores and 
cleanse them of the dust and dirt incrusted thereon, and afterwards 
exposed to the frost. Having achieved this much, it was dis- 
covered that the skins could be greatly improved by plunging them 
in water containing a solution of alum and then putting them in 
vinegar. These baths prevented the skins from rotting, then they 
were dried in the shade and moistened again, and beaten and 
stretched, so that by dint of belabouring them, they were rendered 
quite supple, clean, and free from that disagreeable odour apper- 
taining to skins less carefully prepared. 

As man became civilised he invented other kinds ot clothing, 
but as a subsidiary covering furs have always been a fashion, and 
formed an article of traffic. 

The fur trade has made great extension and progress since the 
sixteenth century. In 1535 the French took possession of 
Canada and in 1553 the Russians established their first stations 
ir? the north. The taste for furs was developed by these new 
hunting establishments which arose in different quarters. At the 



2o8 PROGRESS OF THE FUR TRADE. 

same time as the French formed factories in Canada and on 
the Mississippi, the British commenced a large trade in Hudson's 
Bay. In the eighteenth century the North West Company was 
established and commenced a powerful competition with that of 
Hudson's Bay. About the same time the Russian North American 
Company was formed, with its seat at New Archangel, to develop 
the fur trade of the countries from the Oural to Kamschatka, the 
north-west coasts of America, and the Aleutian islands, trading 
with the Chinese by Nijni Novgorod and Irkutzk, and exchanging 
furs for tea at Kiachta. In 1800 Astor the great trader started 
the American Company, and in 1825 the North-West Company 
was united with that of Hudson's Bay. 

At present there remain only the Hudson's Bay Company, which 
explores and hunts over some three and a half millions of miles 
of British territory in North America ; the American Company, 
which carries on the chase over that part of Arctic America, 
which the United States has bought from the Russians; and 
the Greenland Company, whose seat is at Copenhagen, and which 
prosecutes the fur trade in Greenland, Iceland, and the Polar sea. 
What has not the fur trade done for commerce, in pushing the 
explorations of the fur hunters, and improving our knowledge of 
geography, natural history, and science, and what influence have 
not these discoveries had on the civilization of the world ! 

The fur trade includes three classes of dealers. The collectors 
of skins, the wholesale skin and fur dealers, and the furriers or 
makers up of furs. The price of furs necessarily varies greatly, 
from the simple rabbit-skin worth ^d. to the Siberian sable worth" 
^2oor the black fox worth £40 or ^50, and is also dependent 
upon supply and the variations of fashion. 

A large proportion of the furs used in America and Europe, are 
cured and dressed here, for although many expensive furs are not 
used in this country, London is the great fur mart of the world. 

The trade in made-up furs determines what kind of skin will be 
most needed ; for fashion in furs as in other articles of ladies' 



HERALDIC USE OF FURS. 209 

dress is most fickle, and the favourite of last season may be the 
least sought after in this. 

It is a remarkable feature of the fur trade, that almost every 
country or town which produces and exports furs, imports and 
consumes the furs of some other place, frequently the most 
distant. It is but seldom that an article is consumed in the 
country where it is produced, though that country may consume 
furs to a very great extent. 

In the account of the Master of the Robes to Louis IX. of 
France in 1251, there is a charge for the fur lining of a surcoat 
of 346 ermines, for the sleeves and wristbands 60, and for the 
frock 336, or 742 ermines in all for a single dress. 

The four noble furs of those ages were the sable, the ermine, 
the vair, and the gris. The three former of these represented the 
three fur colours admitted into their armorial bearings. Every 
one at all acquainted with heraldry knows that ermine is repre- 
sented by a white ground with black, somewhat lengthened spots. 
These were intended to designate the black-tipped tails of the 
animals, the skins being sewn together either with the tails on, or 
the tails were first cut off and afterwards sewn in rows upon the 
skins, sometimes alone, sometimes with a little wad of black 
lamb-skin on each side of the tail. 

The vair was a squirrel, obtained probably at that time, as it is 
at present, from the southern provinces of Russia. It has a white 
belly, and a blue or rather dove-coloured back, on which latter 
account its colour, when blazoned, was azure. When these skins, 
entire, or at least only reduced to square pieces (called in ancient 
heraldry, pannes) were sewn together, the result was a varied 
surface of bluish grey and white, in alternate, somewhat bell- 
shaped figures ; but as the white of the squirrel's belly is far 
inferior to that of the ermine, it was the custom for the more 
sumptuous kind of garments, to use only the back of the squirrel, 
and to form the alternate white figures of ermine. 

Respecting the "gris" heraldic antiquaries seem much in doubt. 



2io ABUNDANCE OF FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 

Some suppose it to be only the blue or grey back of the same 
squirrel as has been just described by the name of vair. This, 
however, is not very probable, especially as the common French 
name of the North American grey squirrel is petit gris, although 
in size it is equal to the vair. Greise and graies occur in two lists 
of furs inserted in M. Chancellor's travels in Russia and Muscovia, 
1544; and as graye is the old English name of a badger, the 
heraldic gris is probably the fur of this very animal. If not it 
may be the calabar, or grey squirrel of Russia. 

The Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in one of their 
annual reports, commenting upon the opinion that the fur-bearing 
animals are dying out, and must soon be extinct, remarks : 

" We think that those who argue in this way must forget the 
many thousand square miles of land in and beyond our territory 
which can never be settled, and whence these skins are mainly 
brought. No doubt the skirts of regions formerly resorted to by 
the Hudson's Bay Company only are now visited by other traders, 
but this Company still possesses and with proper management will 
long possess the best means for obtaining increased returns from 
the vast regions of Mackenzie River, East Main and other lands, 
where nothing is lost by the absence of settlement, because nothing 
will grow there." 

Everywhere it must be remembered that these animals, like 
cattle or human beings, are liable to periodical failures of food, 
or periodical inroads of disease. Experience shows that their 
abundance runs in cycles. The failure in one year of an insignifi- 
cant class of animal may cause the decrease in the next year of a 
far more valuable beast which feeds on the former. The whole 
chain of animal life is more or less linked together, and the diffe- 
rent species as they depend on each other, fall off or increase 
again according as the supply of food and the vigour of each class 
may be more or less abundant. 

The statistics which we publish show that instead of decreasing, 
the quantity of furs and skins of wild animals is increasing yearly. 



PREPARING AND DRESSING FURS. 211 

We drive back wild animals on some points, but the globe is yet 
so thinly peopled for its size, that man does not arrest the 
production of animal life ; on the contrary, for the last century 
and a half the quantity of skins collected has increased. Agri- 
culture itself increases the production of these animals by aug- 
menting their food supplies, and their reproduction is therefore 
greater than their destruction by the hunters who wage a continual 
war against them. 

A large trade is carried on in what may be termed artificial 
products, in which common and cheap furs are so prepared as to 
resemble the rarer and costlier articles. The piecing of furs is 
a distinct branch in itself. Many articles of fur regarded as entire 
by the buyer are made up of several pieces, the size of the natural 
fur not sufficing for the purpose. The skill with which piecing is 
done is somewhat marvellous, and great care and judgment are 
required to assort the parts. All the clippings and cuttings of 
furs have their uses, and pass into different hands for various 
purposes. A great trade is carried on with fur remnants and 
cuttings to Greece ; they are there joined into cloths and rugs 
with incredible patience and perseverance, and they also form 
linings for the national dresses. 

Great skill and care are required in dyeing and tinting the skin. 
Usually the greasiness of the fur is killed or removed by a bath of 
lime-water, but this is now, in many instances, objected to. The 
seal-skin, for instance, should be carefully prepared for unhairing, 
it is then picked and beamed carefully, the fur cleansed of all fatty 
matter by repeated washings. The dye stuff is then applied daily 
with a brush, and the skin spread out in a drying-room at a suitable 
temperature. This latter process is repeated from 15 to 30 days in 
succession, till the colour has become sufficiently deep and dark ; 
finally the skins are cleansed by thorough washings in pure soft 
water; and the product is a dyed fur seal-skin, whose lustre is clear, 
rich, and permanent. A gloss is imparted to the hair and at the 
same time suppleness to the skin, by treatment in cylinders with 

p 2 



212 VALUE OF FURS. 

sawdust and sand, or the former alone. Dyeing by immersion is 
more practised, and better suited for the hides of domestic than 
of wild animals. 

The fur seal has annually increased in demand for ladies' 
mantles, and like all other goods of a costly nature, has called 
forth an imitation of less value. This has been effected by 
removing the upper hair from the skin of the musquash, leaving 
the finer portion, which, having passed through the hands of the 
fur dyer, forms an excellent substitute at half the price. 

The art of imitating, altering, and improving furs is carried on 
with very great success, so that ferrets are passed off for martens, 
and bear skins are deepened in tint and appearance. By means 
of certain dyes, dog skins and white rabbit skins are tigred, grey 
rabbits are turned into genette, the panther skin is imitated, and 
in fact all sorts of skins spotted and altered in appearance. 

The most choice marten is the Siberian sable, but the Russians 
have found out how to dye the red marten skin as dark as the 
beautiful natural black sable. 

It was lately mentioned in a New York paper that a case of 
Russian furs, in a camphor-wood box about 3 feet long, contain- 
ing 400 small skins, and bearing the Russian official seal, was 
valued at nearly ^3, 000. Some of these skins were worth 10 
guineas, some 3 guineas, others 5 guineas, and some were of 
fabulous prices. They are generally sold at a profit of 30 to 2>Z 
per cent. As it takes some 16 or 18 skins to make a complete 
mantle, and adding the workmanship and profit, a very choice 
set of furs may easily reach a value of nearly ^"300. 

The immense tract of country in North America, to the north 
of the United States, belonging to Great Britain, may be regarded 
as an immense hunting ground which supplies a great part of the 
furs used in Europe and America; the northern and western 
States and territories of the American Republic also furnish a 
considerable quantity. 

Among the most interesting and really instructive features of 



THE HUDSON'S BAY FUR STORES. 



213 



Victoria, in Vancouver Island, is the " fur room " of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, within the Fort. Here may be seen 
great bales of the most valuable, rare, and beautiful furs and 
skins of the monsters of the deep and lords of the forest. 
Here we may stroke the back of the bear without fear, and 
fondle the polecat without contamination. It is like visiting 
a great menagerie comprising all the wild animals of Oregon 
and Washington territories, Vancouver Island, and British Co- 
lumbia. Some of the skins have come hundreds of miles — 
from the wildest and most inaccessible places known to man 
What a volume of daring adventures, feats requiring coolness 
and courage, might be told of the capture and slaying of the wild 
beasts who once filled the glossy furs before you, and the flash ol 




ARCTIC FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 



whose eyes once made the stoutest hearts tremble ! Hundreds 
of white hunters and trappers are constantly employed by the 
company to hunt and trap the beaver, otter, black, grey, and silver 
fox, lynx, marten, wolverine or glutton, mink, musk-rat, &c, be- 
sides at all the trading posts these skins are eagerly sought after 
and purchased from the Indians ; and a steamer, the Otter, is 
entirely engaged in going from one Indian port to another of the 
islands to the north of Victoria, trading blankets, biscuit, and 



214 



PRICES OF FURS. 



other articles of necessity and prime value to the savages for < 
these skins and furs. In Victoria is the grand depot where all 
the skins of the north-west territory find their way, are cured, 
packed, and forwarded to London once a year, in a vessel be- 
longing to the Company, which arrives out in the month of March 
of each year, direct from the old country. The skins are regularly 
packed in large wine casks by means of a screw, and it is won- 
derful the number that are pressed into a single cask. The value 
of some of these furs in Europe is very great, and the profits of 
the trade are large. 

Furs constitute one of the most valuable exports from the 
province of British Columbia, and the following is a list of ani- 
mals the furs of which are obtained there, with their value : — 



Panther . 
Wild cat . 


Each. 

$2-50 

o75 




Lynx 
Common otter 


Each. 
3 -00 

5'oo 


Wolf . 


2*50 




Sea otter 


50 -oo to $80 


Red fox . 
Fisher . 
Mink . 


25 00 
5-00 

2 - 00 




Squirrel 

Red deer (elk) 

Blacktailed deer 


CTI2 

0-15 per lb. 
0-15 „ „ 


Marten . 


5*00 to 


flO'OO 


Ermine . 


0-50 


Racoon 


075 




Fur seal 


1000 


Beaver . 


1 "oo per lb. 


Mountain goat 


2 00 


Black bear . 
Brown bear - 
Wolverine . 


5 -oo to 
7-50 
1 00 


$8*00 


,, sheep 

At Cae 


3-00 

JBOO. 


Siffleur (marmot) 
Musk-rat 


0-50 
. 025 




Silver fox 
Black fox . 


$50 to $70 

IOO'OO 



Until the year i860 the fur trade was entirely monopolised by 
the Hudson's Bay Company • but since that date the trade has 
ceased to be exclusively in the hands of this Company, and there 
are now a large number of persons who have invested capital in 
it. In general the trade is carried on by coasting vessels, which 
exchange goods for peltry. It is rather difficult to arrive at a 
correct estimate of the value of the furs exported; but it was 
stated at $210,000 in 1868, and $233,688 in 1869. 



STATISTICS OF SKINS OBTAINED. 215 

The prices of skins are regulated by the quality of fur and also 
by the condition of the pelt ; if they have been torn in the trap, 
or riddled by shot, or injured in handling, they cannot take rank 
among No. 1 skins, no matter how fine the quality of the fur. In 
this respect there has been a great change of late years, by the 
improvement in traps and the doing away with the " dead-fall " 
and kindred arrangements. Cased skins, that is those which are 
not cut open on the belly, command the best prices. Those 
preferred " cased " are mink, musk-rat, otter, fox, fisher, opossum, 
and skunk. Skins that are well-stretched and dried, command 
better prices than those of the same quality that have been handled 
carelessly, and the fur dealers at the present time complain of care- 
lessness in this respect. The Indian method of loosening the 
skin from the flesh is a good one ; it enables the skins to be 
removed from smaller animals much cleaner than any other plan. 
They puncture the skin in two or three places where no injury 
will be done by the cut and insert a quill ; by blowing through 
this quill the air is forced between the flesh and skin, which can 
be stripped off without the use of a knife, and comparatively free 
from the flesh. 

The Hudson's Bay Company receive their supplies from the 
north-west coast of America, the produce of their hunters and 
traders on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, about July. 
The sales take place in August or September. Those from the 
eastern side of the Rocky Mountains come to hand in November, 
and are sold in London during the winter and spring. 

The following is an enumeration of the skins the Company 
received and sold in the years named at decennial intervals : — 



2l6 



PRICES AND VALUE OF FURS. 





1856. 


1866. 


1875- 


Badger 


1,105 


508 


2,001 


Bear . . 


9,255 


7,855 


5,898 


Beaver. 


74,482 


150,170 


100,721 


Fisher 


5,182 


4,420 


2,186 


Fox, cross . 


i,95i 


2,935 


1,961 


„ kitt. . . . 


3,37o 


3,9io 


2,699 


,, red . 


7,371 


12.739 


7,644 


,, silver 


613 


761 


603 


,, white . 


10,292 


5,524 


4,333 


Lynx and cat . . 


11,634 


34,6i5 


15,661 


Marten 


179,275 


115,667 


61,782 


Mink . . . . 


61,516 


53,044 


62, 760 


Musquash . 


258,791 


312,301 


503,948 


Otter . . 


13,740 


14,720 


9,825 


Sea Otter . 


290 


85 


11 


Porpoise, half skins . . 


483 


47i 


131 


Rabbit. 


90,937 


144,519 


48,291 


Racoon . . . . 


1,798 


5,105 


1,632 


Seal, fur 


36 


1,845 


1,427 


,, hair . . . 


5,263 


14,899 


3,743 


Skunk 


n,3i9 


2,755 


2,33i 


Wolf . . 


7,576 


6,611 


1,608 


Wolverin 


1,142 


705 


1,052 


Total . . . 

1 


757,431 


896,164 


842,248 



Besides a few deer skins, swan skins, ox hides, &c. 
The value of the furs and skins exported from the United 
States is shown by the following figures : 



1821 . 


. 766,205$ 


1851 


. 977,762$ 


1831 . . 


. . 750,938 „ 


1861 


. . 878,466,, 


1841 . 


. 993,262 „ 


1871 


• 1,590,193,, 



And in the three years ending 1874 the average annual export 
of furs exceeded 3,500,000 dollars or ^"700,000. 

The value of the foreign furs imported into the United States 
in 1856 was stated at nearly ^400,000, and these were chiefly to 
be made up for ladies' use. 

The value of the furs and skins exported from Canada was in 
l8 5°> £ 1 9j39S > m 1860,^68,661 j in 1870, ^63,816; and of 
the furs, dressed and undressed, in the year ending June 1874, 
;£ 1 02, 2 2 9, showing a great increase on previous years. 



FUR MARKETS OF THE WORLD. 



217 



The. prices of furs in Canada vary in different years. The 
following are the extreme rates in usual seasons for ordinary sizes 
and qualities — 



Bear Skins . 


205-. to 80s. 






Otter . 


25 s. to 5 or. 


Lynx 


I2S. ,, 20S. 






Mink 


5 J. ,, 10s. 


Red Fox . 


Ss. „ 7s. 






Elk & Moose, dressed 


20s. , , 4.0s. 


Silver Fox 


50s. ,, 1 5 Of. 






Hair Seal . . . 


2s. 6d. to 5 j. 


Black Fox . 


1 Sos. ,, 600s. 






Stone Marten of Europe 


20s. ,, 5 or. 


Beaver . 


Ss. „ Ss. 


per 


lb. 


Red Marten ditto 


I or. ,, 20s. 



The great centres of the fur trade in North America are New 
York, Boston, Montreal, and St. Louis ; the furs are shipped to 
those cities from all parts of the fur-producing region, excepting 
the section controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company, and from 
these cities they are distributed to the various sections of this 
country and Europe. The principal furs obtained on the American 
continent are sable, mink, musk-rat, foxes of various kinds, ra- 
coons, fisher, skunk, opossum, bear, lynx, wolf, wolverine, buffalo, 
badger, beaver, otter, seal, rabbit, and monkey, chinchilla, coypu. 
Of sables America produces about one half the supply • of mink, 
four-fifths ; musk-rat, more than nine-tenths ; of chinchilla and 
coypu, all ; about one-half the foxes, all of the racoon, fisher, skunk, 
buffalo, one-half the seal and from one-half to three-fourths of the 
other kinds. London is the great centre of the fur trade in racoon, 
beaver, mink, seal, fox, otter, musk-rat and wolves, although 
nearly all kinds of furs are found at the trade sales. Leipsic is 
a large market for the majority of furs obtained in America, and 
various kinds from Middle Europe, Russia, and Asia. Martens 
(fitch, stone and black), together with sable and ermine, are more 
largely dealt in than at other markets, while, as in London, almost 
all other kinds can be found. The rich furs of Russia are col- 
lected at Irbit, Siberia, and Nishni Novgorod, on the Volga River, 
where they are sold at the annual fairs. According to estimates 
made by experts, the total catch of a single season is about 
20,000,000 skins; of these one-third are obtained in Northern 



218 FUES OBTAINED IN EUROPE. 

Asia and North- West America, nine and a half millions in North 
and South America, and three and three quarter millions in Russia, 
Sweden, and adjoining countries. The total value of these skins 
is not far from ^2, 600,000. 

Among furs and skins used by the furrier are included those of 
the swan, penguin and grebe, and lamb skins, such as those of the 
white and grey lamb, the Persian lamb, and the same dyed. 
Of all these specimens will be found in the Collection of Animal 
products in the Bethnal Green Museum. 

France furnishes from its own territory furs and peltries of 
the value of over one million sterling, and imports about double 
that amount j one half of the quantity is used up locally, and 
the rest exported. Those produced locally consist of about 2,000 
martens, 36,000 polecats, 4,000 otters, 100,000 weasels, 60,000 
foxes, 30,000 cats, 60 millions of rabbits, 72,000 goose-skins, 
100,000 lamb, 40,000 sheep, and 25,000 goats', besides a quantity 
of hares, bears, wolves, ermines, badgers, minks, kids, &c. 

It is in the governments of Archangel, Vologda, Viatk a, and Perm, 
as well as in Nova Zembla, that the trade of the fur hunter is chiefly 
carried on in European Russia, to the value of about ,£64,000. 
In that part of the empire the bear, wolf, badger, fox, squirrel, 
and other animals are taken — the skins of which fetch various 
prices. The produce of the chase there, however, diminishes 
yearly. It is Siberia and the Russian company's possessions 
that furnish the larger part of the furs to commerce. In Siberia 
certain tribes pay their taxes in furs, and as these constitute the 
private revenue of the Emperor, the handsomest furs by conse- 
quence are never seen in the market. 

Throughout the whole country furs are an object ot pursuit ; 
sables, martens, stoats, foxes, squirrels, and ermines, are tracked 
and trapped by hunters. As a general rule the furs of the eastern 
are of better quality than those of the western provinces, but the 
ermines near the rivers Irkutzk, Oby, and Ishim form an excep- 
tion, being of three times the value of those found beyond the river 



RUSSIAN FUR-TRADE WITH CHINA. 219 

Lena. Still the time has not yet come for any suffering among 
the inhabitants in consequence of a scarcity of the animals. A 
large export goes on to the west; they are disposed of in Yakoutsk 
to the value annually of three or four hundred thousand pounds, 
and furs of more than twice that value are sold in a single town 
bordering on Chinese Tartary. 

It is for these furs that the Chinese barter their own produce, 
and create the trade of second importance to Siberia. 

The export trade of Russia to China was originally almost 
entirely confined to furs. The large quantity of Siberian furs paid 
to the Crown in form of tribute, and other supplies of the same 
article found an easy sale, not only in the interior, but in the 
markets of Central Europe, as well as in Persia and Turkey. But 
when the national costume was changed in Russia, and was re- 
placed by that worn in the west of Europe, the supply became 
too large for the markets of Persia and Turkey, and the govern- 
ment, being an interested party, looked out for another market 
for its furs, which it found in the northern provinces of Mongolia 
and China. 

Besides this tribute, Siberia, however, furnishes to general 
commerce ermine, marten, zibeline, petitgris, and fox skins, to 
the value of about ^3 2,000. The skins of the wolf, fox, marten, 
and sea otter, are the principal, but these are diminishing year by 
year. Formerly they used to obtain about 40,000 skins of dif- 
ferent kinds yearly, now scarcely half these are obtained. 

To show the former extent of the trade in peltries or furs from 
Russia to China, it may be stated that the exports in 1837 con- 
sisted of the following number of skins : 



220 FURS SENT FROM RUSSIA TO CHINA. 



Beaver 

Squirrel 

Otter, Russian . 

„ foreign 
Sea bear . 
Steppe and other fox 
Foreign fox 
White fox 
Fox paws or pads 
Ukraine lamb skins 
Trans-Baikal ditto 
Foreign ditto 




5,074,878 



The hunting and trapping for furs give large employment to 
the poorer classes of Siberia, and bring in an annual value of 
about ;£ 160,000. There used to be exported to China, via Kiachta, 
from one to three millions squirrel skins, 250,000 to 300,000 
cat skins, and 260,000 fox skins, besides some beaver and lynx. 
The beaver skins have dropped from 10,000 or 12,000 to 3,000, 
the squirrel skins have declined altogether. The otter skins 
have fallen from 20,000 to 4,000 and 5,000, the bear skins from 
12,000 to 5 or 6,000, the fox skins to 15,000, the cat skins have 
fallen to 8 or 9,000, the lamb skins from 1,250,000 to 74,000; 
and the lynx from 15,000 to about 2,000. 

The following table was given in the French Jury Reports of 
the Paris International Exhibition of 1867, as an approximate 
estimate of the furs received in Europe from North America, 
Russia, and the Greenland Company. 



FURS RECEIVED IN EUROPE. 



221 



Furs. 


1800. 


1825. 


1852. 


1866. 


Beaver. . . . 


164,237 


76,277 


51,280 


154,971 


Bear. 


25,105 


12,145 


12,478 


11,048 


Otter . . 


21,694 


12,235 


13,825 


17,053 


Pecar 


6,598 


7,644 


9,449 


6,157 


Marten . . . 


70,053 


100,574 


116,804 


124,484 


Wolf 


8,093 


1,462 


8,765 


6,610 


Glutton . . . 


1,495 


806 


1,508 


806 


Lynx 


19,708 


12,252 


12,710 


38,751 


Vison . . . . 


9,344 


46,176 


209,125 


60,169 


Fox . 


24,164 


25,861 


77,055 


64,247 


Marmot 


109,979 


5 2 ,72i 


562,177 


388,178 


Musquash . 


27,272 


281,416 


1,637,340 


1,577,707 


Deer and elk . . 


29,288 


66,351 


54,406 


31,812 


Bay Lynx . 


— 


— 


6,125 


4,752 


Opossum . . . 


— 


— 


14,444 


218,144 


Skunk 


— 


— 


1,618 


74,591 


Rabbit. . . . 


21,825 


— 


54,827 


144,519 


Badger . 


— 


— 


1,710 


618 


Seal . . 






17,151 


34,775 



Value of the imports into United Kingdom of furs of all sorts. 



1870. 

1871 

1872. 

1S73 



,£659,872 
541,209 
714,967 
419,104 



874 




• ^617,276 


Article 


s made of fur . 


74,263 


875 




• 971,697 


\rticle 


s made of fur . 


. 122,376 



CHAPTER VII. 
CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS,— {Continued). 

The general history and statistics of the fur trade having been given 
in the preceding chapter, detailed accounts are now furnished of the 
principal carnivorous animals and their economic relations to 
man — commencing with the felines or cat tribe, including the lion, 
puma, panther, leopard, jaguar, ocelot, wild and domestic cats, 
chetah, European ly?ix, American Bay lynx, Canadian lynx, 
and Civet cats. 

Carnivora. — The distinguishing characteristics of the Carni- 
vorous Mammals, it has been well observed, are found in the 
perfection of structure-arrangement, number, and development of 
the teeth, the canine teeth being especially adapted for destroying 
other animals, and tearing, crushing, and dividing the flesh upon 
which these animals subsist. In the bears and their allies, which 
exist on a more or less mixed diet, the crowns of the molar teeth 
are furnished with small tubercles or prominences, evincing an 
adaptation to a vegetable diet. 




SKULL OF BEAR (Ursus), SHOWING THE DENTITION. 

The inquiry may possibly be made, What are the uses of the 
numerous carnivorous animals which roam over large tracts of 



TRADE IN WILD BEASTS. 223 

country, and are a terror to man and beast ? But it has been 
often shown that the races of herbivorous animals, without a 
natural check from predatorial enemies or other slaughter, would 
soon become too numerous for the substances which have been 
allotted for their nourishment, and, by creating famine, would be 
the cause of their own destruction. 

In their uses to man, this balancing of creation, as it were, is 
most important, by keeping down many that would desolate by 
their ravages pastoral regions. The more direct benefit will be 
found in the extensive commerce which is maintained with their 
skins, which form comfortable protections from cold and the 
inclemencies of the weather, and are beautiful and ornamental 
articles of winter dress. 

There is a wholesale and retail trade in wild animals, and 
agents are at work for the wild beast dealers in every quarter of 
the globe. Travellers are dispatched to pick up strange animals 
in Central Africa, the Indian Archipelago, or South America, just 
as other traders send their buyers to Paris or London. They have 
dealings with the various Governments and Zoological Gardens of 
Europe. Zebras will be sold at ^"450 to ^500 the pair ; gnus 
for ^170; rhinoceroses at ;£ 1,200 the pair; tigers at ^300 each. 

The Felines or Cat Tribe. — First in the list of the Felines 
stands the Lion, of which there are two marked species, Leo 
Africanus, and Leo Asiaticus, inhabiting the greater part of Africa, 
and the warmer districts of India. There appear to be several 
varieties, if not species, of the African lion, as Leo Barbaras and 
L. Gambianus. 

It is principally for its skin that the lion is sought, although 
living animals are valuable for menageries and zoological collec- 
tions. In some years 100 to 200 skins are secured. The flesh of 
the lion is eaten by the Hottentots ; and a tribe of Arabs between 
Tunis and Algeria, according to Blumenbach, live almost entirely 
upon it when they can get it. When a lion has been killed and 
the skin removed, the flesh is divided, and the mothers take each 



THE LION— THE PUMA. 225 

a small piece of the animal's heart, and give it their male children 
to eat in order to render them strong and courageous. 

They take away as much as possible of the mane, in order to 
make armlets of it, which are supposed to have the same effect. 

It would seem from the Journal of the Marquess of Hastings, 
that this superstition as to eating lion's flesh is as strong in India. 
On the death of a lion it is stated — " Anxious interest was made 
with our servants for a bit of the flesh, though it should be the 
size of a hazel-nut. Every native in the camp, male or female, 
who was fortunate enough to get a morsel, dressed it and ate it. 
They have a thorough conviction that the eating a piece of lion's 
flesh strengthens the constitution incalculably, and is a preservative 
against many particular distempers. This superstition does not 
apply to tiger's flesh, though the whiskers and claws of that animal 
are considered as very potent for bewitching people." But the 
flesh of the lion has also been eaten with gusto by Europeans, for 
Madame Bedichon in her work on Algeria, states, that at Oran a 
lion was killed which three days before had eaten a man, and the 
Prefect gave a grand dinner, the principal dish being the lion, 
which the French gentlemen assembled ate with the greatest 
relish. 

More recently still, — within the last year or two, — a magnificent 
quarter of lion, shot in the neighbourhood of Philippeville, Algeria, 
by M. Constant Cheret, was sent to the Restaurant Magny, 
Paris, and served up to a party of nineteen guests, who enjoyed 
with gusto " Estouffade de lion a la Me'ridionale " and " Cceur de 
lion a la Castellane." 

Puma or Couguar (Felis concolor, Lin). — This animal, some- 
times called the South American lion, is most common in the 
southern part of the continent, although its geographical range is 
said to extend to the north. The skins are chiefly used for carriage 
wrappers. The fur is thick, close, and of a reddish brown colour, 
approaching nearly to the colour of a fox on the back, and 
changing on the belly to a pale ash. When at a mature age, 

Q 



226 THE TIGER AND ITS DEPREDATIONS. 

however, its general colour s a silvery fawn. Three or four 
other species are said to inhabit Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, and 
Chili. 

The puma is very destructive to sheep, and has been known to 
kill fifty in a night, merely to suck a portion of their blood. The 
length of the adult animal is a little over four feet, and its tail two, 
to two and a half feet. The flesh is said to be tender and well 
flavoured. 

Tiger (Eelis Tigris). — This animal is exclusively confined to 
the Asiatic continent, and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. 
The peninsula of Hindostan seems to be its great nursing place, 
but it extends far up into the hill regions. The district of Goal- 
parah in Assam is so infested by wild animals, that ^1700 has 
been paid in a single season for the heads of beasts of prey. 
And yet the reward for tigers is only ten shillings per head. 
The Delhi Gazette states that 250 tigers' heads have been brought 
in by natives in a single month. They are mostly killed by 
poisoned arrows from spring bows fixed near their favourite 
haunts. In 187 1, 1100 wild beasts were destroyed in the Madras 
Presidency, at a cost of ^2,200, of which 666 were cheetahs, 
205 tigers, 129 hyenas, 97 bears, 12 wolves, and a few jackals. 
On the Nielgherry Hills 16 tigers and 29 cheetahs were killed, and 
;£no paid in rewards. In Kistna and South Canara^*73 were 
paid for killing 146 tigers and leopards, but not before they had 
destroyed over 1760 head of cattle. 

In China the mandarins cover the seat of justice with the tiger 
skin, and the easterns are very proud of their tiger skin rugs. A 
good skin is worth ^3 or ^4, but varies according to size and 
condition. They are sometimes obtained exceeding 11^ feet long. 
There are three good stuffed heads of the Bengal tiger (Tigris 
regaiis) in the Bethnal Green Museum. 

Panther {Felis Pcirdas). — This animal, principally found in 
Africa, is believed to be only a variety of the leopard, but differs 
in its superior size and deeper colour from it Its colour is of 



THE LEOPARD—THE fAGUAR. 227 

a bright tawny yellow, with rounded black spots disposed in circles 
about his body; the breast and belly are white. 

In Algeria recently a gun of honour was presented to a great 
slayer of panthers, Si-el Moufok, aged 40, who had killed 42 of 
these wild beasts, and his father 75 before his death in 1850. 
Si-el Moufok has a young brother who has already killed 3 panthers. 

Leopard {Felts Leopardus, Cuv., Leopardus varius). — This 
animal, which is about four feet long, is dispersed over Africa, 
Asia, and some of the Indian islands. There are one or two 
varieties. Their skins, which are very valuable, are of a bright 
tawny hue, marked with black spots. There is a leopard skin 
shown with the furs in the Museum Collection. In this country 
the collocation of the leopard under the officer's saddle is a dis- 
tinguishing mark adopted by some of the cavalry regiments. 

The imports of these skins is but small in numbers, seldom 
averaging more than 100 a year, although in some years 150 have 
been imported. They are sometimes used on draught and saddle 
horses, and for ornamenting caps, fur garments, and cuffs. Leopard 
skins command good prices for hearth-rugs and military purposes, 
and for the seats of some carriages. The skin is worn as a mantle 
by the Hungarian nobles who form the royal body-guard of 
Austria. 

In the Museum Collection is a fine African leopard skin rug 
bordered with bear skin, and four or five very choice Bechuana 
mantles or karosses made of leopard, and various other skins of 
native animals. 

There is another species of leopard known as the ounce 
(Leopardis undo), met with about the shores of the Persian Gulf, 
the fur of which is rather paler, rougher, and thicker. 

Jaguar (Felis [Leopardus'] onca), or American Panther. This 

animal is as large as a wolf, and is formidable for its strength and 

ferocity, in these points resembling the royal tiger of Bengal. It 

has a fur, the ground colour of which is a pale brown yellow, very 

beautifully marked with chocolate brown spots and with streaks and 

Q 2 



FLESH OF THE JAGUAR— THE OCELOT. 229 

stripes. It is used for ornamental purposes, as hearth-rugs, &c. 
It seems to be a merciful dispensation of Nature that the most 
terrible quadrupeds are not gregarious, but hunt alone or in 
couples. If lions, tigers, and jaguars herded like wolves, whole 
provinces would be depopulated by their ravages, and man 
would hardly be able to hold them in any subjection. But by 
destroying them in detail, their numbers can be kept within 
bounds, and their depredations confined to their native forests 
and jungles. 

An oil from the adipose tissue of the jaguar is used externally 
in Brazil in cases of rheumatism, and also for fomenting boils. 
The Gauchos or herdsmen differ in their opinion whether the 
jaguar is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is 
excellent. 

Mr. Wallace, when travelling up the Amazon, one day had 
some steaks of the jaguar on the table, and found the meat very 
white, and without any bad taste. " It appears evident to me," 
he adds, " that the common idea of the food of an animal deter- 
mining the quality of its meat is quite erroneous. Domestic 
poultry and pigs are the most unclean animals in their food, yet 
their flesh is highly esteemed, while field rats and squirrels, which 
eat only vegetable food, are in general disrepute." 

Ocelot (Felis Pardalis). — This animal, rather less than the 
ounce, is a native of tropical South America. Its skin is beauti- 
fully variegated, of a bright reddish colour, with stripes of a deeper 
tinge edged with black variously disposed over the upper parts of 
the body, and hence is in great request by furriers. Two other 
species, the linked and the long-tailed, are enumerated as belong- 
ing to South America. 

The skin of the bush cat (Leopardus serval), the tiger cat of the 
furriers, is also in some request, being of a golden grey, with dark 
spots and stripes. 

There are some other species of Felines described by naturalists, 
such as the Margay (F. itgrina), and two or three species of Indian 



2 3 o WILD AND DOMESTIC CATS. 

cats ; but as these have no commercial or economic importance, it 
is unnecessary to describe them. 

The Wild Cat (Felis Catus),ixox£i which the well-known domestic 
animal is descended, still inhabits the mountainous parts of 
Britain and Northern Europe. Its fur is much longer and rougher 
than that of the tame cat, grey, mottled and spotted with black, 
and its softness and durability render it very suitable for furs. 

The Common Cat (Felis domesticus, Lin.). — Besides its uses as a 
household pet and for keeping down rats and mice, there is a large 
trade carried on in the skins of cats for their fur. Cats have even 
been shipped in large numbers to Australia, California, Malta, and 
other places where rats have become too numerous to be pleasant. 
In some countries, as in France, a tax is levied on cats. In that 
country about 30,000 skins are furnished annually to commerce. 

As there is scarcely a house in which one or more cats are 
not kept, and very many are also maintained in stores, ware- 
houses, docks, &c, to clear mice, there cannot be less than four 
to five millions domestic cats in the United Kingdom, so that 
there must necessarily be a good supply of skins. 

The common cat is fed on fish, and bred for its fur in Holland, 
where the finest skins are obtained. Large quantities are also 
collected in Holstein, Bavaria, Switzerland, &c. This fur is now 
greatly valued, and the supply of good skins continues far short of 
the demand. The black, spotted, and striped varieties are all 
much in request, to be made into wrappers for open carriages, 
sleigh coverings, and railway travelling. 

In 1856 we imported 13,451 cat-skins, chiefly from the Con- 
tinent, in 1856 32,138, and in i860 9,741. 

According to the " Bulletin of the Society of Acclimatisation " 
of Paris, the domestic cat is more eaten as food than is generally 
supposed. In Williams's " China" it is mentioned that wild cats 
are sometimes caught, and are considered a great food dainty. 

The Chetah or Hunting Leopard (Gueparda jubata; 
Cynailurus jubatus, Wagler). — This animal is found in all the 



CARACALS OR LYNXES. 



231 



warm parts of the old world, from the Cape Colony to Persia 
and India. In Asia it is trained for hunting antelopes. The skin 
is of a light yellowish fawn colour above and white below, with the 
back and sides covered with black spots. It is used for ornamental 
purposes. 

Lynxes.— There are several species of Caracals or Lynxes 




European Lynx (Felts lynx). 

inhabiting Africa and Asia, but the European and Canadian ones 
are those chiefly hunted for their furs. 

The skins of the common lynx and the spotted lynx are shown 
among the furs in the Museum. 

The European lynx (Felts lynx; Lyncus virgatus) ranges over 
a good part of Europe and some of the northern parts of Asia. 



232 LYNXES AND CIVET CATS. 

The length of the body and head is about three feet. The fur of 
its winter coat is in demand for various purposes. It is of a 
darkish grey, tinged with red, with dark spots and patches. 
There is a species which extends more to the south, known as 
Lyncus par din us. 

The American Bay Lynx or Wild Cat {Lynx ri/fus, Fdis 
Canadensis, Geof.) differs from the common lynx in having shorter 
fur and longer pencils to the ears. There is a variety of this, per- 
haps even a distinct species (Z. maculatus), whose fur, spotted 
with brown, is as valuable as the others. The specimens of the 
Bay lynx from the Columbia River are generally carried direct to 
China, without passing through the hands of European furriers. 
As a rule, the colder the climate the fuller and more valuable the 
fur. The lynx is found on the Mackenzie River as far north 
as 66°, and is not uncommon in the woods of Canada, especially 
in the Lake district. 

The Canadian Lynx is said by Temminck to be identical 
with the lynx of Northern Europe. It has a light, though warm, 
hoary fur ; the natural colour is of a beautiful grey or rusty brown, 
spotted with dark and rufous. Dyed of various colours, it is 
much used by the Chinese, Greeks, Persians, and others, for 
cloak linings, robes, and muffs, &c, being exceedingly soft, warm, 
and light. 

The imports of these skins by the Hudson's Bay Company range 
between 5,000 and 16,000 yearly. In the 13 years ending 1868 
the total imports by the Company had reached 330,000 skins. 
Of late years there has been a large increase in these skins. A 
few hundred are obtained annually in Alaska. In 1851 we 
imported 8,415; in 1858, 15,688; in 1861, 8,415; in 1875, 
15,000. 

Civet Cats. — The African Civet (Viverra civettd) is most 
abundant in the hottest parts of Africa and in Abyssinia. It is 
chiefly remarkable for the highly odoriferous secretion, from which 
the perfumers used to prepare the old-fashioned " musk." Musk 



CIVET CATS. 



233 



has now given way to some extent to patchouli, and to far purer 
and more delicate floral perfumes ; so that civets are no longer 
in the demand which former periods of fashion created for them. 

The skin of the civet has a yellowish-grey ground colour, with 
long hair on the back, large dusky spots disposed in longitudinal 
rows on each side. Furriers often confound this skin, which is 
light and soft, with that of the Zibet and Genet. 

The pouch situated near the genitals is a deep bag, sometimes 
divided into two cavities, whence a thick, oily, and strongly musk- 
like fluid is poured out. When good, this odoriferous substance 




ANIMALS FURNISHING CIVET AND MUSK. 



is of a clear yellowish or brown colour, and of about the con- 
sistence of butter • undiluted, the smell is powerful and very 
offensive, but when largely diluted with oil or other ingredients, it 
becomes an agreeable perfume. Important medical virtues were 
formerly attributed to the civet; it, however, no longer forms an 
article in the materia medica, and even as a perfume has been laid 
aside. 

Until the time of Buffon, the difference between the African 
and Asiatic species was unobserved, both being of nearly the 
same form and colour, but the number of dark marks on the tail 
is different in the two. 



234 



THE ZIBET AND GENET 



Zibet (Viverra Zibethd). — The skin of the Asiatic species 
differs somewhat in its markings from its African congener. The 
animal furnishes the same secretion, and has been found in the 
Philippine Islands. The caudal rings of this species hold an 
unvarying character, and are uniformly six in number, pale, upon 
a black ground. 

The Muskars, a low class of woodmen, eat their flesh. In 
South India the secretion is much employed by the native practi- 
tioners under the name of kustre. In Travancore there was, and 
probably is still, an establishment kept up at the expense of the 
Government, in which these animals were kept and reared for the 
sake of their secretion. It has a disagreeable ammoniacal odour, 
and acrid, pungent taste. There is another species called the 
Rasse ( V. malaccensis) found in Java, Singapore, and other Eastern 
districts, which yields the same perfume. 

Genet or Spanish Cat {Viverra genett % Lin.). — This animal, 
about the size of a small cat, has a beautiful soft fur of a pale 
reddish grey, the sides of the body being spotted with black, and 
a dark line running along the back. It is a native of the western 
parts of Asia, and is found also in Spain. The skin makes a soft 




CIVET CAT. 



and light fur, but it is imitated by the furriers with grey rabbit- 
skins dyed. The civet furnished by this species is less powerful 
than that of the others. There are one or two other varieties of 
genets. 



WILD CIVET CATS. 235 

The Wild Cat of Formosa (Felis viverrina, Hodgson) is much 
sought after by the Chinese for its soft pretty skin, to make cuffs 
and collars for their coats ; 4s. 6d being the usual price for a 
single skin. In the collection of furs in the Museum the skin of 
the wild cat of India and of the black cat will be found. 

The skin of the Viverra pallida is also valued for lining to 
great-coats. The poorer classes, who are unable to purchase the 
dearer furs, make use of these cheaper yet pretty skins. The 
Chinese eat the flesh of this animal, although it has a strong civet 
odour. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS— continued. 

This chapter deals with the dog tribe — the varieties of the domestic dog, 
the Esquimaux dog and dog sledges. The tax on dogs in various 
countries. The wolf— statistics of the ravages it commits, and the 
use made of its skin. Foxes— variety and value of the skins of 
this animal as furs, wholesale trade in them by the Hudson 's Bay 
Company — statistics of imports. Racoon and bear skins. Badgers. 

The Dog (Cam's). — All zoologists agree that there is no trace 
of the dog to be found in its primitive state of nature, although 
wild dogs exist in India, America, and Australia. Some have 
been led to believe the wolf is the original dog, but none of the 
native wild dogs have ever returned to the true form of the 
wolf. This question, however, is one not requiring to be dis- 
cussed at any length here. 

Sir John Richardson states that the great resemblance which 
the domestic dogs of the aboriginal tribes of America bear to the 
wolves of the same country, was remarked by the earliest settlers 
from Europe, and has induced some naturalists of much observa- 
tion to consider them to be merely half-tamed wolves. The 
Esquimaux dogs are not only extremely like the grey wolves of 
the Arctic circle in form and colour, but they also nearly equal 
them in size. 

If we consider the numerous varieties of the dog, from the 
King Charles to the Newfoundland ; the harrier and the bulldog ; 
those raised for food in China and the South Sea Islands to the 
sheep dog — from the smallest to the largest — the variation in size 
is fully one hundred fold. 

There is more apparent difference between one of these dogs 
and the wolf and the fox, which are its allies, than between other 



VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 237 

animals far separated from the class. What modifications we 
find in the breed, what races lost, what races created? Like 
man, whom he follows over the globe, the dog changes like 
him, but more greatly, and readily adapts itself to all climates 
and all habits. 

And why? Because long domesticated, it has experienced 
infinite changes according to the localities ; because man has 
selected the differences in individual births to create varieties ; 
because he has coupled dogs having the same instincts, and 
improved them so as to obtain a race suited for a special purpose, 




which he has not ceased to improve. He has obtained from a 
primitive animal, which is no longer met with, a varied race of 
animals which nature did not form. 

It will be sufficient for our present purpose to class dogs under 
three heads : — 

1. Farm dogs, which includes the colly, the shepherd's and 
drover's dog, the mastiff, and the bulldog. 

2. Hunting dogs, as the terrier, the hound, the harrier, the 
beagle, and the greyhound. 

3. Shooting dogs, as the pointer, the setter, and the spaniel. 
The dog is old at fifteen years, and seldom lives beyond 

twenty. Dogs are encouraged and kept in most countries as 
companions, housedogs, guardians for sheep, for the chase, and 
in many cases for beasts of draught. 



238 ARCTIC DOG SLEDGES. 

In this country the employment of the dog for drawing burdens, 
or as a turnspit, has been done away with ; but on the Continent 
they are still harnessed to small carts, and dog-trains for sledges 
are much employed in the Arctic Regions. 

In Siberia, Greenland, and other northern countries, five dogs 
are yoked to a sledge, two and two, with the fifth in front as a 
leader. In general, only one person rides in a sledge, who sits 




ARCTIC DOG SLEDGE. 



sideways, and guides the animals by reins fastened to their collars. 
Such is their fleetness, that they have been known to perform a 
journey of 270 miles in three days and a half, and so great their 
strength, that they will convey a sledge containing three persons 
and their baggage sixty miles in a day over the snow. 

The Esquimaux Dog (Cams famzliarls t vax. bor calls). — Captain 
Lyon thus describes the Esquimaux dog: In form he is very 
similar to our shepherds' dogs in England, but is more muscular 
and broad-chested, owing to the constant and severe work to 
which he is brought up. His ears are pointed, and the aspect of 



THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 239 

the head is somewhat savage. In size a fine dog is about the 
height of the Newfoundland breed, but broad like a mastiff in 
every part except the nose. Young dogs are put into harness as 
soon as they can walk. Every dog is distinguished by a name, 
and the angry repetition of it has an effect as instantaneous as an 
application of the whip, which instrument is of an immense length, 
having a lash of from 18 to 24 feet, while the handle is one foot 
only. With this, by throwing it on one side or the other of the 
leader, and repeating certain words, the animals are guided or 
stopped. 




vr^ 



ESQUIMAUX DOG. 

I found (adds Captain Lyons) by several experiments that three 
of my dogs could draw me on a sledge weighing 100 lbs. at the 
rate of one mile in six minutes ; and as a proof of the strength of 
a well-grown dog, my leader drew 196 lbs. singly, and to the same 
distance, in eight minutes. At another time seven of my dogs ran 
a mile in four minutes, drawing a heavy sledge full of men. After- 
wards, in carrying stores to the " Fury," one mile distant, nine 
dogs drew 161 lbs. in the space of nine minutes. My sledge was 
on runners, neither shod nor iced ; but had the runners been iced 
at least 40 lbs, might have been added for each dog. 



2 4 o BOG'S FLESH AS FOOD— THE DOG-TAX. 

The flesh of the dog is eaten in several countries, and its skin 
utilised for leather. The flesh of the North American dog, var. 
Cam's canadensis, is esteemed before that of almost any other 
animals by the Canadian voyageurs, and is eaten by some of the 
Indian tribes on the Saskatchewan and shores of the Great Lakes ; 
but the Chipewyan tribes hold the practice in abhorrence, because 
they consider themselves to be descendants of a dog. 

In many countries, to keep dogs within due bounds, a tax is 
levied on them, as in France, the United Kingdom, and parts of 
Germany. The dog-tax in Great Britain is $s. per annum, and it 
realized in the year ending December, 1874, ,£313,017, so that 
there was duty paid on 1,252,068. The Commissioners of Inland 
Revenue, however, complain that, notwithstanding considerable 
exertion on the part of their officers and the assistance of the 
police, there is still a large number of dogs uncharged. 

There are more than 120 packs of hounds kept, the number of 
harriers is about 20,000, and other fancy breeds and dogs for the 
chase, 114,500. In Yorkshire there are ten packs of foxhounds, 
one pack of staghounds, and five or six of harriers, equal in all to 
thirteen or fourteen packs of foxhounds. Thirteen packs of fox- 
hounds, or fifty couple each, viz. 1300 hounds, consume annually 
200 tons of oatmeal, at a cost of ^2600, besides the carcases of 
about 2000 dead horses. 

In Ireland the dog-tax is only 2s., and in 1870 duty was paid 
on 270,422, being a dog for every twenty persons. The tax pro- 
duced ^27,042, and after deducting ^7000 for expenses in the 
administration of the Act of Parliament, there remained ,£20,000, 
which was paid over to the authorities in reduction of local 
taxation. There are now about 300,000 returned in Ireland. 

In France the number of dogs was estimated at 2,250,000. 
The tax in that country is about six francs a head. Many are 
thrown into the Seine by their owners rather than pay the tax, 
and these carcases are occasionally so numerous, and so fat, that 
at Javelle there is quite a trade carried on in fishing for and 



STATISTICS OF BOGS. 241 

boiling them down for the fat, of which about 2,250,000 lbs. are 
obtained annually, this is sold to the glove-makers at is. the 
pound, for dressing the better class of straw-coloured gloves. 

In the city of Berlin the dog-tax is three thalers, or about gs., 
and it is found there are about 21,000 dogs kept ; of these nearly 
3,000 are used in drawing carts. It was thought that the impo- 
sition of the tax would check the number of dogs kept, but not- 
withstanding the tax and the obligatory use of a muzzle, they 
were found to have increased by one-third in four years. In 
Wurtemburg the dog-tax brings in 376,355 marks, or nearly 
^"19,000 ; in the Hawaian Islands 20,000 dollars, or ;£ 4,000. 

In the United States it is officially computed that there is a 
dog to each family, and this gives in round numbers 8,000,000 
dogs, each of which costs eight dollars a year to keep, and con- 
sumes annually food sufficient to raise a pig. But it is believed 
there are twice that number in the States. The dogs are found 
to commit sad ravages among the sheep there. 

And then it is reasonably argued what benefits might not result 
from killing the larger number off. For instance : — 

6,500,000 dog-skins, worth . . . $1,625,000 
6,500,000 carcases, for chicken-feed . . 2,000,000 
6,500,000 refuse for manure . . . 375,000 



Total . $4,000,000 

Thus the surplus dogs, by proper use, might yield ^800,000, 
If chopped up or ground, their meat and bones would be excellent 
for chicken feed; and their skins good for gloves and other 
manufactures. 

The skins of big mastiffs are fit to be tanned for boots and 
shoes or thick riding gloves, the skins of lesser dogs can be 
dressed white for gloves. In the city of New York 6,000 to 8,000 
dogs are annually impounded, a very small portion of which are 
redeemed. They are killed by drowning, and the carcases are 
taken to the offal boats, which convey them to Barren Island, 



242 THE WOLF. 

where every part of them is turned to some useful account. The 
fat is rendered out, the skins are sold to glovers, and of the bones 
an excellent compost for fertilising land is made. There are 
about twenty-five regular dog-catchers, and a number of other 
persons who incidentally bring in those that they pick up. 

In the Animal Products Collection there is a pair of child's 
cuffs made of the hair of a French poodle. 

Wolf (Cam's occidentalism Baird). — The skin of the wolf is 
much valued, and is used as cloak and coat linings in Russia and 
other cold countries by those who cannot afford the more choice 
kinds ; also for sleigh coverings and rugs for open travelling 
carriages and wherever additional warmth is required. 

The varieties of the American wolf have finer fur than the 
European species ; the Prairie wolf (Cam's lutrans), supplies one 
of the furs of the Hudson's Bay Company. The wolf of the 
northern districts is covered with a long and comparatively fine 
fur, mixed with a large quantity of shorter woolly hair, and it has 
a more robust form than the European wolf. In some districts 
the wolves are very numerous, and vary greatly in the colour of 
their fur, some being white, others totally black, but the greater 
number are mixed grey and white, more or less tinged in parts 
with brown. According to a pamphlet which M. Lazarevsky has 
circulated, the wolves in 1873 did nearly as much damage as a 
Tartar invasion might have inflicted. They carried off 179,000 
cattle and 562,000 smaller domestic animals from the forty-five 
governments of Russia in Europe. In the Baltic provinces 1,000 
head of horned cattle were destroyed, and in the Polish provinces 
2,700 oxen, and 8,600 sheep, pigs, and goats. If a cow be reckoned 
as worth thirty roubles, and a sheep at four roubles, the gross sum 
of the tribute levied by the wolves in Russia must reach 7,700,000 
roubles (3s.). This is an amount of money quite well worth looking 
after, and it represents a number of wolves which must be dan- 
gerous even to human life. 

Some singular details are given in a recent Russian paper of the 



WOLVES IN RUSSIA. 



243 



ravages committed by these animals, which are worth reproducing. 
The number of wolves, it is said, in Russia, cannot be less than 
170,000, and they eat of feathered game alone 200,000,000 head. 
In 1875 no l ess tnan two hundred human beings were destroyed by 
wolves. A comparison is instituted between the losses occasioned 
by cattle plagues and fires as against those caused by wolves, 
and, extraordinary as it may seem, the proportion of damage 
done by wolves as compared with cattle plagues is as 200 to 240. 
The amount that wolves will eat is enormous. In two or three 




HUNGRY WOLVES. 



hours a pair will eat the half of a horse weighing 700 lbs., they 
themselves weighing not more than 100 lbs. 

In 1873, in one government, that of Vologda, wolves killed 
14,000 head of large cattle and 35,000 head of small ; in the 
Kazan government they killed 5,000 large and 26,000 small, of 
an aggregate value of ^36,700. In the St. Petersburg govern- 
ment the losses are less, but even there, in the same year, 
property was destroyed by wolves to the extent of ^"10,000. 
In forty-five Russian governments, exclusive of the Baltic 
provinces and Poland, 714,000 head of cattle were destroyed in 
one year, making a loss to the country of over ^1,000,000. 



244 LAVAGES COMMITTED BY WOLVES. 

In the forests of France, and in the Pyrenees, the wolves 
occasionally attack shepherds, and they now and then venture 
within the walls of lonely chateaux and farm-houses. But their 
numbers of course cannot be compared with the enormous hosts- 
of savage beasts in Russia, which one may perhaps guess at from 
the quantity of wolves that must band together to kill and carry 
off one able-bodied ox. 

The European wolf has a coarser fur, with less of the soft wool 
intermixed with it, than the American wolf. Sir John Richardson 
enumerates the following varieties : — 



a. Common grey wolf (Z. g)-iseus). 

b. White wolf (Z. dibits). 

c. Pied wolf (Z. sticte). 



d. Dusky wolf (Z. mibilns). 

e. Black wolf (Z. atcr). 

f. Prairie wolf (Cam's lu trans). 



The skins of the American wolves are not split open like the 
large wolf-skins, but stripped off and inverted or cased like the 
skin of a fox or rabbit, and hence in the Hudson's Bay Company's 
lists called "cased wolves." From 4,000 to 12,000 wolf skins 
are imported annually by the Hudson's Bay Company. In 185 1 
there were but 2,400 skins received; in 1861, 3,669; in 1868, 

9,193- 

The hide of the wolf is considered peculiarly fitted for knapsacks 
and similar purposes, for which it is much employed in Germany. 
There is a wolf skin shown in the fur series at the Bethnal Green 
Museum. 

The canine teeth of wolves are used, mounted in a handle, by 
gold workers in France, to polish and burnish gold. The jewellers 
and bookbinders especially use them, the latter for smoothing the 
edges of books gilded. They are also mounted for children to rub 
their gums with like coral to facilitate dentition. 

Strings of the teeth of their enemies, and of bears, panthers and 
other wild animals are favourite ornaments on the necks of young 
men among the Dyaks of Borneo. In Case 168 in the Museum 
there is a necklace of bears' claws, and in Case 171 one of tigers 7 
ieeth, and another of monkeys' teeth. Even in civilised society 



VARIETIES OF FOXES—SILVER FOX. 245 

tigers' claw-jewellery and the teeth of carnivorous animals are 
worn when handsomely mounted. 

The Cayapas in the district of La Tola, Ecuador, male and 
female, wear round their necks large collars made of the teeth of 
the jaguar, caiman, snakes, &c, mixed with shells, eggs, &c. 

Foxes. — The fur of the fox is in high esteem in Russia and 
China. The skin of the red fox ( Vilifies fulvus, Baird) is finer 
than that of the V. vulgaris of Europe ; its value is from two to 
three dollars ; that of the cross fox (Var. decussatus), is valued at 
twelve to fifteen dollars ; the white and black varieties are also 
highly prized according to the uniformity or intensity of the colour. 
The grey fox ( V. virginianus) and the kitt fox ( V. volez) have a 
much coarser fur. Fox fur is used much for sleigh robes, caps, 
and trimmings. There is a good series of fox skins in the 
Collection of Furs in the Museum. 

The most valuable of the American fox skins is the silver grey, 
which twenty years ago fetched as high as eight guineas per skin ; 
the black fox, which is rarely met with, formerly sold at ^10 a 
skin ; now they are worth four times that price ; the cross fox at 
jQi, and the red fox about £4. The Turks are the principal 
purchasers of the red fox skin. The wood grey fox skins, which 
are obtained in the States in considerable numbers, are much 
cheaper. This animal, so common about Buffalo and the south, 
is not known in any part of Canada. 

A fine sinew thread taken from the tail of the fox is used by the 
North American Indians in their bead work. 

The Silver or Black Fox ( Vulfies fulvus, var. argentatus), when 
in first rate condition, produces one of the most valuable furs in 
the Hudson's Bay Company's territory, or that the world produces. 
A very limited number of skins only come into the market, 500 to 
1,000 from America ; black skins have been known to realise as 
much as ^50 each, and even then are generally purchased for 
re-exportation, being highly prized in Russia. La Hontain speaks 
of a black fox skin as being, in his time, worth its weight in gold. 



246 RED, CROSS, AND ARCTIC FOX. 

They are of an incomparable lustre and beauty. Some have 
been taken in Newfoundland. In its finest and best condition 
this animal is almost wholly black, excepting the tip of the tail, 
where the black fur is intermingled with white silvery hairs. 

Red Fox ( Vulpes fulvus). — This animal is indigenous to the 
wooded districts of the colder parts of North America, where it is 
found in immense numbers. The American fox has a much finer 
brush than the European species, and is a much larger animal. Its 
fur is of exceeding beauty, of a ferruginous colour. All the varie- 
ties of foxes are of one species, and live and breed together, but 
owe their difference of colour to unknown causes. From 8,000 to 
30,000 are received yearly in the Hudson's Bay Company's ships. 

Cross Fox ( V. fulvus, var. deeussatus). — This variety is readily 
distinguished by a black cross on the neck and shoulders, from 
which it derives its name. It is probably a cross between the 
silver and red fox. This fox inhabits the northern parts of 
America. Its fur is a sort of grey resulting from an admixture of 
white and black hair. From 2,000 to 5,000 are obtained annually 
by the Hudson's Bay traders. In former years it was worth four 
or five guineas a skin, whilst that of the red fox did not bring 
more than fifteen shillings. The difference in value seems to 
depend principally on the colour, for some of the red foxes appear 
to have as long and as fine furs. 

The Kitt Fox ( Vulpes cinereo argentatus) is the smallest of the 
American foxes. About 5,000 are received annually by the 
Hudson's Bay Company. 

The Arctic Fox ( Vulpes lagopus, Baird) exhibits in a remarkable 
degree that change of colour to which all polar animals are more 
or less liable. In winter it is pure white, in summer a line of a 
darker colour appears on the back with corresponding transverse 
stripes upon the shoulders, so that it is sometimes mistaken for 
the cross fox. The white skins are exported into the London 
market in considerable quantities. The fur is of small value in 
commerce when compared with that of any variety of the red fox. 



STATISTICS OF FOX SKINS. 



247 



Its flesh, on the other hand, particularly when young, is edible ; 
whilst that of the red fox is rank and disagreeable. It is compared 
in flavour to that of the American hare, and resembles the flesh of 
a kid. About 5,000 skins are received on the average yearly by 
the Hudson's Bay Company, although in some years 12,000 have 
been sold. There is a darker variety known as the sooty or blue 
fox ( V. fuligonus), of which very few are obtained. In Greenland, 
in the year ending March, 1875, 3,100 fox skins were obtained ; 
of these the blue fox skins were to the value of ^4,942, and the 
white fox skins £370. 

The following Table shows the imports of the various kinds of 
fox skins by the Hudson's Bay Company for a series of years : — 





Silver. 


Cross. 


Red. 


White. 


Blue. 


KlTT. 


IS56 


613 


1951 


7371 


10,292 


103 


3370 


1857 


IO47 


3188 


10,484 


4940 


63 


5776 


185s 


1060 


3472 


9706 


2103 


21 


10,003 


1859 


1 163 


3982 


11,489 


1565 


15 


5547 


i860 


1177 


4030 


11,031 


3355 


43 


4568 


1861 


1070 


3403 


8897 


5084 


42 


2,532 


1862 


632 


2248 


7783 


2805 


23 


2905 


1863 


587 


1947 


6402 


33io 


29 


5532 


1864 


6l2 


1963 


5716 


12,235 


78 


2409 


1865 


459 


1800 


8760 


4821 


33 


3126 


1866 


5 6 9 


1910 


8125 


5917 


36 


5Hi 


1867 


1089 


4445 


29,439 


2113 


— 


5896 


1868 


1359 


5132 


22,065 


10,341 




6624 



The Racoon (Frocyon lotor, Cuv.) is found in the warmer 
parts of North America. The skins obtained from the western 
States, particularly of Michigan, are considered much better than 
those of Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York. In 1840 they sold 
at a dollar a skin. Russia is the principal market, and during 
late years the price has fallen much lower. The skins afford a 
rather handsome fur of a greyish-red colour for robes, and were 
also employed in the manufacture of felt hats. They are used 
throughout Germany and in Russia as a lining to the long 
travelling coats and other equipments of northern countries. 



248 THE RACOON. 

The imports by the Hudson's Bay Company range between 
i, 800 and 4,700 skins annually; but large numbers also come in 
from the United States, bringing up the total to from 300,000 to 
500,000 a year. This skin is shown in the Museum Collection. 




racoon (Procyon lotor). 

Bear-skins. The American black bear {Ursus americanus, 
Pallas) differs from the European species, and affords in season a 
thick and brilliant fur. Bear-skins are used as saddle-cloths for 
horses, for foot-muffs, and furs, grenadiers' hats, and formerly for 
cuffs. This fur takes dyes well. 

Bears are found in considerable numbers in the Minnesota 
territory and other parts of the new settled States of America, 
also in small numbers in Canada and the Lower Provinces, but 
they are constantly diminishing before the progress of civilisation. 
The black bear is by far the most numerous, but few of the grizzly 
species being found. An average skin is worth five dollars — a 
very good one (she-bear), from six to seven. They are principally 
used for saddle housings and harness trimmings, and sometimes 
for sleigh robes. Their skins as furs are best when the animals 
are just issuing from their winter's sleep ; and at that season the 
Indians are reaping their bear harvest. 

About 8,000 bear- skins are annually imported by the Hudson's 
Bay Company, and some others are brought from the United States, 
Canada, &c. 

In 1806, 9,255 bear-skins were received by the Hudson's Bay 



BEARS, AND BEARSKINS. 



249 



Company; in 1866, 7,855. In 1870 we received from America 
11,777 bear-skins, valued at ^15, 2 7 8. In later years the Board of 
Trade have not specified the separate skins imported as furs. 

The Black Bear inhabits every wooded district of the Ame- 
rican continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Carolina 




A POLAR BEAR HUNT WITH ESQUIMAUX DOGS. 

to the shores of the Arctic sea. The fur on the body is long, 
straight, shining, and black. The cinnamon bear is considered 
to be an accidental variety of this species. They hibernate in the 
northern fur countries for about six months, being in a fat condi- 
tion j further south they only hide themselves for three or four 
months. Sir John Richardson tells us that at one time the 
skin of a black bear, with the fur in prime order and the claws 



250 VARIETIES OF BEAR. 

appended, was worth from twenty to forty guineas, but at present 
the demand for them is so small, from their being little used 
either for muffs or hammer-cloths, that the best sell for less 
than 40 j. There is a black bear-skin in the Collection of Furs in 
the Museum. 

In the forty years ending with 1862, 10,000 black bear-skins 
were obtained in Alaska. 

With the progress of settlement and civilisation, bears are fast 
passing away both in northern Europe and America. There 
was a time when as many as 500 bears were killed in one winter 
in two of the counties of Virginia. Then the Indians shared 
largely in the spoils as well as the excitement of the chase. 
Their mode of serving up the bear, as a first course, was to roast 
it whole, entrails, skin, and all, as they would barbecue a hog. 
Most of the American planters preferred bears' flesh to beef, 
veal, pork, or mutton. Bears' paws were long reckoned a great 
delicacy in Germany, and after being salted and smoked, were 
reserved for the tables of princes. The tongues and hams are 
still in repute. 

The black bear is replaced on the barren grounds of North 
America by Ursus Richardsonii, a species bearing a strong resem- 
blance to the U. ardos of Europe, another species the brown or 
barren-ground bear ( U. ferox), and the grizzly bear ( U. horribUis) 
ordinarily dwells among the Rocky Mountains. The latter is 
large, strong and ferocious. They are sometimes nine or ten 
feet long, and are reported to attain a weight exceeding 800 
pounds. From the black, and indeed from all, the natives 
derive food ; they also cut the summer hides into cords. The 
claws of grizzly and barren-ground bears are much prized 
for necklaces and coronets by the Indians, as a proof of their 
prowess. 

The Polar Bear {Ursus maritimus, Linn.) is perhaps the only 
species common to both continents, and may be considered as a 
sea animal, inhabiting the ice floating between them. They come 



THE POLAR BEAR. 



251 



down on the ice drifted round Cape Farewell in the current from 
the east coast, and some are taken on the ice round Upernavick, 
in the far north. 

In Capt. Hall's " Life with the Esquimaux," among other anec- 
dotes given of the ingenuity of the polar bear, is one by which 
he kills a walrus when basking in the sun on the rocks. If this 




POLAR BEAR KILLING WALRUS. 



happens to be near the base of a cliff, the bear mounts the cliff 
and throws down upon the animal's head a large rock, cal- 
culating the distance and the curve with astonishing accuracy, 
and thus crushing the thick, bullet-proof skull. If the walrus is 
not instantly killed — simply stunned — the bear rushes down to it, 
seizes the rock, and hammers away at the head till the skull is 
broken. 



252 THE BROWN BEAR. 

The bear-skin is of the greatest value to the Arctic tribes. They 
dress it by pinning it down on the snow and leaving it to freeze, 
after which the fat is scraped off. It is then hung up to dry 
in the intense frost, and with a little scraping it becomes 
perfectly supple, both skin and hair being beautifully white. 
The Greenland Company get from forty to sixty white bear-skins 
annually. 

The flesh is eaten by the Esquimaux and the Danes in Green- 
land, and when young, and cooked after the manner of beef 
steaks, is by no means to be despised, although rather insipid. 
The fat, however, ought to be avoided, as unpleasant to the palate. 
Dr. Scoresby tells us that the muscular fat of the bear is well 
flavoured and savoury. " I once," he adds, ''treated my surgeon 
to a dinner of bear's ham, and he did not know, for above a 
month afterwards, but that it was beef steak. The liver is very 
unwholesome." Other arctic voyagers consider it exceedingly 
coarse. The Russian sailors who wintered at Spitzbergen found 
it to be much more agreeable to the taste than the flesh of the 
reindeer. 

Sir John Richardson well observes, in his " Fauna Boreali- 
Americana," that when people have fed for a long time solely 
upon lean animal food, the desire for fat meat becomes so in- 
satiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and 
even oily fat, without nausea. Our arctic seamen relish the paws 
of the bear, and the Esquimaux prefer its flesh at all times to that 
of the seal. Instances are recorded of the liver of the polar bear 
having poisoned people. 

The Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos\ although at one time com- 
mon in many parts of Europe, is now restricted to a few se- 
cluded valleys in the Alps, Pyrenees, and mountains of Norway 
and Lapland. The dark-coloured race, long considered a distinct 
species, under the name of the European black bear, together 
with the barren-ground bear of North America, are now included 
among the varieties of Ursus arctos. They are hunted for their 



THE ISABELLA BEAR. 



2 5S 



skin and fat. The distribution of the brown bear is more exten- 
sive than any of the family. In Asia it inhabits Siberia and the 
Altai as far westward as Japan ; when the Altai is crossed, and 
the great Himalayan chain examined, there is found another 
brown bear, which has been named the Isabella bear, from the 
prevailing light fulvous colour of the fur. 




KILLING A POLAR BEAR. 



As to the distinction between the Ursus arctos and the Isabella 
coloured bear of the Himalaya, the difference rests only in the 
colouring of the tips of the hair, and that is not always a sure 
criterion. No doubt the majority of the Isabella bears have the 
tips of the hairs brownish white, but brown is the fundamental 
colour. Some individuals, especially old males, are almost 
marone, whilst others vary from brown to brownish yellow,. 
and are a dirty white ; hence travellers speak of the " White 
and Brown bears of Cashmere " : it is evident, however, that 



254 THE THIBET BEAR. 

neither age nor sex determines the colour with any degree of 
accuracy. 

The Isabella bear is found on the mountains of Armenia, where 
it has long passed under the name of the Syrian bear, and is 
perhaps the animal referred to in the Bible. It is not rare on 
the Caucasus and high ranges of Persia, ArTghanistan, and Hima- 
laya, at least as far eastwards as Nepaul and probably much 
farther. 

The winter's coat is shed about midsummer, when the old hair 
and under wool, called peshmena, hang in matted masses on its 
sides. The bear's peshmena is not attained until autumn, and 
after the new coat has gained considerable length. It is analogous 
to that of the wild and tame goats and sheep of Thibet, and more 
or less pervades all the quadrupeds of the high and snowy ranges. 
The peshmena of the ibex is softer than that of the tame goat of 
Thibet Its fur is thick and long in winter, but does not contain 
much under wool. 

The Thibet bear ( Ursus tibetanns) is a native of the lower Hima- 
layan ranges, and is said to be found in Persia, Afghanistan and 
Northern China. There is a white mark on the chest shaped 
like the letter Y, the two legs proceeding a short distance, up the 
side of the shoulders. Towards the end of October, after this 
bear has fed on fruits and grain, like its congener, it becomes very 
fat. The native hunters state that the kidney fat is useless as an 
article of commerce on account of being tainted with the smell of 
the animal's urine. They accordingly preserve only the external 
adipose on the loins and inside of the thighs. 

The European Badger {Meles Taxus) differs totally from 
the American one in many points, especially in its dark-coloured, 
much coarser, and shorter fur. 

The skin with the hair on being impervious to rain, used to be 
employed in France to cover trunks, the collars of draught horses, 
and their harness. The skins were also formerly made into 
pouches by the Highlanders. From the wiry nature of the hair it 






THE AMERICAN BADGER. 



255 



is extensively used for the manufacture of superior kinds of 
shaving brushes and artists' pencils. It is preferred in China to 
pigs' bristles. Brushes made of badgers' hair are used by painters 
in softening the colours employed in imitating wood. The flesh 
is reckoned a delicacy in Italy, France and China, and may be 
cured like hams and bacon. 

The American Badger (Me/es \Taxidid\ Labradoria, Sabine). 
The fur of this animal is very soft and fine, and about three and a 




AMERICAN BADGER [Aides Labradoria). 



half inches long on the back, of a purplish brown colour from the 
roots upwards, variegated with narrow black rings near its summit, 
and tipped with white, producing a pleasant and somewhat 
mottled or hoary grey colour, but exhibiting no brown tints when 
the fur lies smooth. 

In the eleven years ending with 1866, the average annual 
import of these skins by the Hudson's Bay Company was from 
1,000 to 1,700. The flesh is said to be not inferior to that of the 
bear, to which it is closely allied in structure. 






CHAPTER IX. 

CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS— continued. 

The last chapter having nearly exhausted the description oj the fur- 
bearing animals of commerce there remain but a few more to be 
spoken of; these include the Wolverine or Glutton, the Skunk, the 
Fitch or common Polecat, the Martens or Weasels, including 
the Ermine, Mink, Fisher, and Sable ; the common Otter, 
American Otter, and Sea Otter; we then pass on to the varieties 
of Seal, and the description and statistics of this important 
fishery can ied on for the skins and oil of the animals. 

Wolverine, or Glutton (Gulo liiscus, Sabine). — This North 
American animal is nearly the size of our badger. It ranges from 
75 to 42 N. It has two distinct kinds of hair, the inner fur 
being soft and about an inch long, the intermixed hairs are rigid, 
and about four inches long. Its fur is of a deep brown colour, 
passing in the depth of winter almost into black. The imports 
through the Hudson's Bay Company average about 1,000 to 1,500 
skins a year. It is much used for muffs and sleigh robes ; a 
small number are obtained in Alaska. 

The American Polecat (Mephitis Americana, Sabine), or 
Skunk as it is invariably called in that country, has a long, soft, 
black fur. It can discharge, when molested, a fluid from a small 
bag, near the root of the tail, which emits one of the most power- 
ful stenches in nature, that produces instant nausea. The odour 
has some resemblance to that of garlic, although much more dis- 
agreeable. Owing to the repugnant smell which the animal 
possesses, and which the fur, even when it has passed through the 
dressing process retains, it was long considered of small commer- 
cial value. Continued experiments, however, surmounted the 
difficulty ; the two stripes of white coarse hair down the back are 



FITCH OR POLECAT— MARTENS. 257 

Temoved, and a skin of rich black fur is formed, so that it now 
takes rivalry with superior furs for ladies' wear. 

The history of this skin is suggestive that there may be many 
other skins that could be rendered useful, were apparent objections 
sought to be overcome. Twenty years ago the number that 
-appeared in the London market was trivial, about 2,000 to 4,000, 
in 1861, 11,000 were brought to public sale; in 1866, 11,319, 
were imported by the Hudson's Bay Company ; and now that their 
preparation has been still further improved, this formerly neglected 
skin bears a higher value. When care is taken not to soil the 
carcase with any of the strong smelling fluid, the meat is con- 
sidered by the natives to be excellent food. 

The skins of the Fitch or Polecat of Europe (Putorius 
fcetidd) are used for making muffs and victorines. It has a fur 
of good quality, useful for common purposes. The long brown 
hairs which cover the inner yellow fur are used for making 
artists' brushes. A stuffed specimen of this animal is in the 
collection. 

The Marten. — The form of this animal is well known. It 
has a pleasing aspect. Its fur is about an inch and a quarter 
long, of a pale, dull, greyish brown, or hair brown colour, from the 
roots upwards, dull yellowish brown near the summit, and tipped 
with dark brown or black ; the lustre of .the fur is considerable. 
Being fine it is used for trimmings, and is also dyed so as to 
imitate sables and other expensive furs. Hence it has always 
been an important article of commerce. 

The collective import of Marten skins from North America is 
always large, although it varies year by year. The quantity sold 
by the Hudson's Bay Company was, in 1851, 171,945; in l8 5 6 > 
i79> 2 75 5 in l8 57» 171,000. The next two years the average 
imports were 139,000, then in subsequent years they ranged 
between 74,000 and 112,000, and recovered to 125,000 in 1865, 
and 144,000, in 1866. In 1870, the number imported was only 
79,674, valued at about £1 $s. each. 



258 ERMINE AND MINK. 

One of the Mustek tribe, the ferret (Mustela furd) is used for 
driving rabbits from their burrows. 

The Weasels of the fur countries become white in winter, like 
the ermine and are not distinguished from them by the traders. 
There is in the Museum Collection, a stuffed white weasel 
(Mustela ?iivalis) common to Russia and Sweden. 

The Ermine or Stoat (Mustela [Putorius] ermined) is a com- 
mon inhabitant of America from its most northern limits .to the 
United States. Brown in summer; in winter time the fur in 
some specimens is of a pure white colour throughout, except on 
the end of the tail, which is black. The skin is from eight to 
twelve inches in length. It so happens that royalty and nobility 
have adopted this fur in some countries, as one of their emblems,, 
which has given to it a value far above its merits. It is made into 
various articles for ladies' wear, with the tail attached. Minever,, 
the royal fur, is ermine with small pieces of black lamb inserted. 
The skins are called " clicks " by the Indians, and form a 
medium of currency. In 1870, 296,255 ermine skins were im- 
ported, valued at about 2s. each. 

Among furs, that of the Mink (Putorius vtson, Viso?i lutreola) 
stands pre-eminent for ornament, wear, and durability. It is of 
exceeding beauty, and increasing value, and the animal does not. 
seem to diminish in numbers. The fur, of a chocolate or umber 
brown, is very fine, although short ; it is of two sorts, a dense 
down, with longer and stronger hairs.' Two varieties differing in. 
size are found in Nova Scotia, the smaller, nigrescens, has the more 
beautiful fur. The Putorius Cicognauii and Putorius Richardsoniv 
(Bon.), two distinct species, are also met with in that province ; 
they differ from the true ermine chiefly in length of tail. 

The Mink in 1840 sold in America as low as 61. per skin ; 
but in 1855 commanded as much as 7^. 61. and was in active 
demand. Previously to 1853 this description of fur was prin- 
cipally shipped to Europe, but since that time the American 
furriers have been using it extensively in the manufacture of 



STATISTICS OF MINK— FISHER. 259 

ladies' victorines, capes, &c, and the competition between the 
shippers and manufacturers has raised the price. The mink of 
Wisconsin is not so fine as those obtained from Buffalo. The 
best mink skins are those caught in the north and north-east of 
Michigan, the north-west furnishing the next quality. The range 
of price is very great ; colour, size, and quality of fur, as well as 
the condition in which the skin is cured, all contributing to 
determine the value. 

In 1851 we imported 191,729 mink skins; in i860, 111,926. 
The imports by the Hudson's Bay Company range from 60,000 to 
70,000 per annum and have occasionally reached 76,200. This 
skin at present is so highly appreciated that it commands ten 
times the price it did a few years ago. Very fine dark-coloured 
specimens sometimes sell in America for £1 each, and even 
higher, when manufactured into caps, tippets, &c. As in most 
fur-bearing animals the skin of the northern mink is the most 
valuable, and the fur only good when taken late in autumn, in 
winter, or early in spring. 

In the Museum Collection of furs there are specimens of pine 
marten, sable, mink, ermine, cross ermine, skunk, perivitski, mus- 
quash, and others. 

Fisher [Mustela Americana, Turton ; Mustela Canadensis, Lin.). 
— Large numbers of these skins are every year exported by the fur 
traders from North America under the name of fisher or pekan, 
they are also locally called wood-shocks. The animal has a range 
extending completely across the American continent. The tail 
forms a large portion of the value of the skin in Russia, being 
worn as a circlet round the head. Its fur is harsher than that of 
the pine marten, and much less valuable, the musky odour oi 
the body is rather stronger. The fur towards the roots is fine 
and downy, of a clove brown colour. 

The Pine Marten {Mustela leucopus, Lin.) inhabits the woody 
districts in the northern parts of America, from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, in great numbers. The fur, of a dull greyish brown, 

s 2 



260 



PINE AND BAUM MARTEN 



is used for trimmings. Hence it has always been an important 
article of commerce. About 100,000 to 200,000 skins have 
long been collected annually in the American fur countries. 
The lustre ot the surface of the fur is considerable, and the fur is 
in the highest order in the winter time. 




pine marten {Mustela leiicopits). 

This is the fur generally understood in England as " sable," 
Russian sable being always separately indicated. The quantity 
sold here is very small. 

Its geographical range is between 40 and 70 N. across the 
continent. The imports by the Hudson's Bay Company are 
about 5,000 to 6,000 annually, the largest number was 7,185 in 
1866. 

The Baum or Wood Marten (Mustela abietum) is found in 
the pine forests of northern Europe, where it lives like a squirrel 
upon the trees, which it easily climbs, its long claws giving it a 
firm hold upon the bark. Its fur is in the natural state coarser 
than that of American sable, but when dyed the skins resemble 
the best sable, and form a large article of commerce. 



STATISTICS OF LAND OTTER SKINS. 261 



The Beech or Stone Marten (Maries albogttlaris, Mustela 
saxorum) is also a European species, common in mountainous 
countries. The French excel in dyeing this fur, whence it is fre- 
quently called French sable. 

The Kolinski or Tartar Sable {Mustela siberica) is pro- 
cured from the Russian territories. Its natural colour is a bright 
yellow, in which state it is much used ; it is also dyed to imitate 
the dearer sables. 

The Russian Sable (Maries zibellina) is one of the most 
costly furs, both from its fineness, and the difficulties of procuring 
it amid the wilds of Siberia; it is rarely used except by the 
wealthy. Russia receives about 25,000 skins annually. 

The Otter (Luira vulgaris) was at one time common in 
England, and is still frequently caught in Europe. In China it 
has been trained to catch fish for its owner. The handsome fur 
of the otter meets with a ready sale in commercial circles. In 
187 1, 1,550 land otter skins were imported at the Chinese ports 
of Tientsin and Chiukiang. 

The American Otter (Lutra canadensis) differs from the 
European in its greater size, and the colour of its fur, which is fine 
and thick ; a good skin is worth 3 or. or 40^. It is used for the 
finer sorts of hats or for costly caps. The hunting season is from 
September to May. The Russians, Chinese, and Greeks use a 
great many of these skins for robes, trimmings, and national 
dresses. The following have been the annual imports by the 
Hudson's Bay Company during the last twenty years : 

1866 18,534 

1867 . ... . . 14,236 

1868 12,026 

1869 12,500 

1870 10,900 

1871 13,100 

1872 13,700 

1873 11,200 

1874 8,300 

1875 13,000 



1856 . 

1857 
1858 . 

1859 
i860 . 
1861 
1862 . 
1863 
1864 . 
1865 



13J40 
n,577 
12,500 

13,165 
11,278 

I3, J 99 
14,158 
13-331 

15,443 
13,600 



262 THE SEA OTTER. 

The fur very much resembles that of the beaver, but it is 
shorter, and not so well adapted for felting. In the collection of 
furs of the Museum are skins of the otter and " pulled otter," with 
the long hairs removed. 

The Sea Otter (Enhydra marina). — The fur of this animal is 
exceedingly fine and heavy. It was formerly found in thousands 
on the Pacific coast from California to the Russian settlements, 
but from the absence of proper restrictions, is progressing towards 
extinction on those parts of the coast under British rule. The 
imports by the Hudson's Bay Company range from ioo to 300 
per annum. # In the last quarter of a century about 100,000 sea 
otter skins have been sent to Russia from the Pacific coast. The 
flesh of the young sea otter . is said to be very delicate food, not 
unlike lamb. 

The sea otter has been found only in the North Pacific. Their 
skins have ever been held in high estimation by the Chinese and 
Russians as an ornamental fur; but their great scarcity and 
consequent cost limits the wear to the wealthy and higher classes 
only. The commercial value of the sea otter's skin, like other 
commodities, has varied with the changes in the relation of supply 
and demand. The narrative of Cook's Voyage shows the value 
of a prime skin to have been at the time of that voyage £24. In 
1802, when the largest collection was made, the average price of 
all skins at Canton was only about £4. The skins were formerly 
worth in Europe from ^£40 to ^100, but they have much declined 
in value. At present the best quality only bring from ^16 to 
£20. 

When properly skinned the pelt is of an oval form. The tails 
are always cut off and sold separately. The hair in a first-class sea 
otter skin, according to Mr. Dall, should be nearly even in length 
all over it, and of uniform colour. The length of a full-sized skin 
which has been stretched before drying, is about six feet, and its 
breadth nearly four feet. 

The fur varies in beauty according to the age of the animal 






IMPORTANCE OF SEALS. 263 

When the otter is full-grown it becomes of a jet black. The male 
otter is beyond all comparison more beautiful than the female, 
and is distinguished by the superior jetty colour, as well as velvety 
appearance of his skin. The skins in the highest estimation are 
those which have the belly and throat plentifully interspersed with 
a kind of brilliant silver hairs, while the body is covered with a 
thick black fur of extreme fineness and silky gloss. 

The sea otter possesses historic interest. Its quest led the 
Russians from Okhotsk to Kamschatka, and thence over the Aleu- 
tian chain to the opposite coast of America. As long ago as in 
1788, 3,000 skins were obtained by Delouff in Cook's Inlet; and 
in 1794, Barnoff's expedition to Behring Bay took away about 
2,000. The animal was formerly abundant on the Kamschatkan 
coast, and on the American coast as far south as Lower California ; 
but owing to its habits it is difficult to prevent indiscriminate 
slaughter, and it is now scarcely known in many localities where 
it was once abundant. We have no accurate information of the 
total quantity taken annually. 

Seals. — In a commercial point of view, the seals are the most 
important of carnivorous animals, and the pursuit of them is eagerly 
carried on in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, as well as in other 
quarters, but is most extensively prosecuted around the shores of 
Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, for the skins and oil 
obtained from the animals. 

The various kinds of seals differ as greatly in size and phy- 
siognomy as members of the human family. There are canine 
and feline-looking seals ; seals with round heads cropped like a 
prizefighter's, and seals with patriarchal beards and flowing locks ; 
meek, pensive-looking seals, and seals fierce and long-tusked ; 
little seals three feet in length, and monsters upwards of eight feet 
long, weighing 1000 lbs. The harp seal is most esteemed, and 
commands a high price. The Greenland seal is double the size 
of the common seal, and the sea-lions range from 18 to 20 feet in 
length. 



264 7 HE NEWFOUNDLAND SEAL FISHERY. 

The seal fishery is now the most profitable branch of trade in 
the colony of Newfoundland. In 1852 it employed 367 vessels, 
of 35,760 tons aggregate tonnage, and 13,000 men. The vessels, 
are from 75 to 200 tons, but those of 130 tons, which carry crews 
of 40 or 50 men, are preferred. The voyage is begun early in 
March, rarely exceeds two months, and is often completed in 
three weeks. Two and three voyages are sometimes made in one 
season. 

Assuming the fleet of vessels fitted out in the colony at 360, 
they average over 100 tons, and employ an aggregate of 15,000 
men. Pricing the vessels at ^"iooo apiece, we have ^3 60,000. 
(irrespective of provisions) of floating capital on the waters. In 
the brief space of eight years the whole of this capital disappears,, 
for the fleet wears out within that period, and has to be replaced. 
Hence .£40,000 a year (besides the cost of annual repairs) is. 
expended for a portion of the decked vessels with which the 
fisheries are carried on from Newfoundland alone. It may be 
remarked that of late years the number of vessels is fully 100 below 
what it used to be. In i860, 200 vessels took 258,015 seals; in 
1870, 116 vessels took 189,733. 

It is the opinion of those who best understand the business., 
that the fleet despatched annually is already too extensive for 
the return that can fairly be expected from the ice-fields in 
such proximity to the coast of Newfoundland, as will render an 
outfit from its ports convenient or profitable. The exports of 
seal-oil, during the five years ending with 1850, averaged 4,921 tuns 
for each year; for the five years ending 1855, 6,353 tuns; five 
years ending 1865, 3,538 ; five years ending 1870, 4,900 tuns ; but 
the skins also yield very large profits. 

It is stated that the prosecution of this " fishery " is hazardous 
and very exciting. When the voyage is successful, the gain to the 
merchant, captain, and crew is very considerable, but the losses 
are also heavy. It places large sums of money in the hands of 
ordinary seafaring men, who squander it characteristically,. 



VALUE 02 THE FISHERY. 265, 

Governor Darling says it is a pursuit which partakes more of 
gambling than of steady industry, and he is of opinion that it 
does not improve the physical condition or promote the happi- 
ness of the people at large. 

The species of seal which chiefly resort to the Newfoundland 
coast are the two largest kinds — the hooded seal (Stemmatopus 
\Cystophora~\ crislahts), 7 or 8 feet long, and the harp seal {Phoca 
Greenlandica and oceanicd). They whelp their young, in January 
and February, on the ice-fields of Labrador. The whelping ice,, 
as it is called, is floated southwards by the ocean-currents, and 
is always to be found on the coast of Newfoundland after the 
middle of March. The young seals, not taking to the water till 
three months old, are easily caught ; their skins, with fat attached, 
are stripped off, and the worthless carcases left on the ice. They 
are sorted into five qualities — " young harp," " young hood," " old. 
harp," and "bedlamer" (a year-old hood), and "old hood," the 
most productive being " young harp." 

At St. John's, the headquarters of the trade, the skins and. 
blubbers are separated, and the latter is generally put into wooden 
cribs, beneath which are pans to catch the oil. No artificial heat is 
used in this process. The oil which runs for the first two or three 
months is termed pale seal oil, and forms 50 to 70 per cent, of the 
whole quantity. As putrefaction takes place, the oil becomes, 
darker and more offensive. The putrescent refuse and the clippings, 
of the pelts yield further quantities of oil by boiling {polled seal oil). 
This old process, however, is now superseded by a steam apparatus. 
By this invention a uniform and much better quality of oil is pro- 
duced, free from the horrible odour of that prepared by the old. 
method, and the time required is only twelve hours, instead of six. 
months. 

The aggregate annual value of the seal-oil and seal-skins 
shipped from Newfoundland ranges from ^£2 50,000 to ^"300,000.. 

The average take of successful vessels is about 2,000 seals, 
though as many as 8,000 have been secured in one trip ; out 



266 SEAL FISHERY OE 1876. 

of upwards of 400 vessels that yearly engage in sealing, not more 
than sixty make remunerative voyages, and many suffer heavy 
losses. Hence the business is altogether a lottery. The seal 
fishery of Newfoundland for 1876 was, however, one of the best 
for many years, and the following is a graphic account of the 
results : 

" For seven weeks the bitter east wind blew, driving the huge 
ice-fields upon our shores, filling all the bays and harbours with 
ice, and creating a solid ice-pack, which no vessel could pene- 
trate, all around the coasts. The sealing fleet were arrested 
within sight of the harbour and held powerless in the grasp of the 
frost king. Thus matters stood, and we anticipated a disastrous 
fishery. Our hunters could not get to the seals, lying in their 
icy cradles, rocked by the heaving billows of the Atlantic, but all 
the while the east wind was gently floating the * white coats' 
within reach of the hunters, till at length they were separated 
from detachments of them only by a few miles. A change of 
wind came at last, a relaxation of the ice took place, and the 
hunters sprang upon their prey. Still they did not come up with 
the great body of the seals, only with scattered herds, so that no 
steamer got a ' bumper trip,' though many did well on their first 
voyage. The largest number brought in was by the steamer 
Bear — 20,000 seals, worth three times as many dollars. Others 
got 16,000, 13,000, and 10,000 each. The most lucky hit of all 
was made by the Merlin, an old worn-out steamer. She was 
pinned in near the shore by the ice pack, but the seals came 
around her, and she got as many as she could load — 16,000 
prime seals, value 48,000 dols. The seals this year were not 
taken till in their full-grown stage, and consequently were on an 
average 20 per cent, better than in other years. So soon as the 
steamers unload their cargoes of fat they start again for the ice- 
fields on a second hunting excursion. On this trip they rarely 
capture many young seals, as they have taken to the water about 
the 1st of April; but they pursue the old seals, sometimes 



LARGE CATCH OF SEALS. 267 

shooting them on the ' pans ' of ice, sometimes falling in with a 
herd of them jammed in ice and unable to escape, and ' batting ' 
them in multitudes. This year will be memorable in the annals 
of seal killing by the wonderful success of second trips and the 
vast number of old seals brought in. Let us follow the fortunes 
of the steamer Neptune as an illustration of the romantic side of 
seal killing. She did but moderately well on her first trip, having 
brought in only 8,000 seals, value 24,000 dols. On her second 
trip she got caught in an ice pack in Green Bay, and vainly tried 
to escape. When there the men were sent out over the ice fields, 
and some of them wandered so far as ten miles from the steamer. 
At this spot a huge herd of old seals was discovered caught in the 
pack and unable to escape. The men returned to the ship with 
the welcome news, and the whole crew, 30 in number, formed 
themselves into line like soldiers charging, and rushed on their 
prey. The work of destruction by striking them on the nose with 
a long club called a ' gaff' was eagerly pursued, and at the end of 
four hours 18,000 great seals lay dead within a small area. But 
how were they to be got aboard, the vessel being ten miles 
distant? To drag them over the ice was impossible. Well, by 
one of those rare pieces of good fortune which sometimes befall 
the hunter, the grasp of the ice relaxed — the east wind ceased to 
press from the outside, and next morning the steamer was able to 
get alongside the slaughtered seals and all were easily put on 
board. The striking thing, too, was, that had they not been 
killed on that particular afternoon the whole would have escaped 
next morning through the openings in the ice. The average 
worth of an old harp seal is 6 dols. ; so that the value of this 
cargo was 108,000 dols. This is the most valuable cargo of seals 
ever taken in Newfoundland. This single steamer thus earned 
132,000 dols. in a little over two months. One third goes among 
the men ; the captain will get 4,000 dols. for his share ; the 
remainder belongs to the owners. Several other steamers have 
arrived with good trips of old seals. The Wolf has 8,400, Ranger 



268 



IMMENSE SLAUGHTER OF SEALS. 



7,000, Walrus 3,800, Greenland 4,300. The Vanguard and 
Commodore are also said to have fair trips, but are not reported. 
When one remembers that every old seal is worth 6 dols., the 
value of these united cargoes is very considerable. The weight 
in fat of the Neptune's cargo is 850 tuns. All the captains unite 
in declaring that they never saw the seals more numerous, so 
that to all appearance our seal fishery presents as yet no signs of 
exhaustion. But I should like to hear what Professor Baird 




GROUP OF SEALS. 



would say to this terrible slaughter of old seals, coming after the 
destruction of the young ones. It seems like killing the goose 
that lays the golden eggs. It is vain to enact restrictions when 
men are out in those ice solitudes and herds of seals around. 
Not till unmistakable signs of an exhaustion appear shall we gQt 
the killing of old seals prohibited. 

" The persistent east wind drove the great body of the young 
seals up the bays and in upon islands and headlands on our 
northern coast, thus bringing them within reach of the settlers 
ashore. The whole population of these places rushed out and 



PROPORTION OF OIL FROM BLUBBER. 269 

Slaughtered and dragged the seals ashore. * Young men and 
maidens, old men and children/ were eagerly engaged in the 
work. News arrived some time ago that in two localities, 
Twillingate and Fogo, 100.000 seals had been taken in this 
W ay — value, 300,000 dols. It is supposed that at least 50,000 
seals additional must have been taken in other neighbouring 
localities from which no news has yet arrived. Where is the gold 
mine in the world that can compare with our seal fishery ? How 
sad if by reckless destruction of these valuable creatures we 
•should exhaust this important industry! That there is fear of 
•such a result is evident when we look at so many other fisheries 
once as flourishing as ours and now non-productive." 

Seal-oil is also obtained in the Caspian and White Seas, and 
other parts of Russia. In the Caspian Sea about 140,000 to 
160,000 pouds of 36 lbs. are obtained annually; in the White Sea 
Tialf that quantity. The Capuchin or hooded seal {Cystophora 
cristata) is found to yield there 360 lbs. of blubber, the Phoca 
Gmnlandica 160 to 240 lbs., the Phoca annellata 120 lbs., and 
the young white seal about 60 lbs. 

Repeated and careful experiments in rendering out seal fat or 
blubber in Newfoundland, show the relative produce of pure oil 
obtained from the different varieties of seal to be as follows, per 
barrel, when in prime condition — 



Old harp (P. Grccnlandica) 
Young harp .... 
Young hood {Cystophora cristata) 
Bedlamer, a year-old hood . 



Blubber, 
lbs. of 


Oil. 
galls. 


288 
225 
23O 
246 


22£ 
22 
21 
2I| 



Residue, 
lbs. 



73 

52 

80 

I03 



The average quantity of oil from 1,000 seals may be roughly 
estimated at 10 tuns. Seal-oil has ranged in price from ^30 
t0 £z 2 I0S - P er tun - Seal skins according to size, from 8s, 
to 24s. 



270 SEAL'S FLESH AS FOOD. 

At the Cape of Good Hope the technical names for seals are 
wigs, pups, and black pups, the middling and small skins are 
considered the best. 

Seal skins in crust are sold according to weight, those of 25 lbs. 
to 45 lbs. will fetch 'jSs. to iooj-. per dozen, those weighing 50 lbs. 
to 80 lbs., 120s. to 200J-. When split for binders they sell at 78^. 
to 90^. per dozen, or at from ^d. to \od. per lb. The common 
terms for the different kinds of skins are, blue backs, white coats, 
and hair seals. 

While the products of these animals have become regular 
articles of commerce, and contribute to the requirements of 
civilised life, it should also be remembered that they are even 
more essential to the well-being of the tribes of men inhabiting 
the Arctic regions. " Seals (observes Crantz) are more needful 
to them than sheep are to us. The seal's flesh supplies them with 
palatable and substantial food; the fat is sauce to their other 
aliment, and furnishes them with oil for light and fire, while at the 
same time it contributes to their wealth in every form, seeing that 
they barter it for all kinds of necessaries. They sew better with the 
fibres of seal's sinews than with thread or silk ; of the fine internal 
membranes they make their body raiment and their windows ; of 
the skins they make their buoys, so much used in fishing, and 
many domestic utensils, and of the coarser kinds their tents and 
their boats of all sizes, in which they voyage and seek provisions." 

It has been recently stated, " Whales and walruses the Esqui- 
maux capture when they come in the way, but the seal is their 
daily bread ; his flesh and blubber support them and feed their 
lamps ; his skin clothes them and forms their kayaks, with which 
they brave the stormiest seas ; the seal's bone, where iron is not 
to be had, barbs their harpoons, and seal's bladder forms the 
float with which, when the prey is speared, it is so hampered that 
it is unable to escape." 

There is no food more delicious to the taste of the Esquimaux 
than the flesh of the seal, and especially that of the common seal 



MODE OF COOKING SEALS FLESH. 271 

(Phoca vitulind). But it is not only the human inhabitants who 
find it has such excellent qualities, all the larger carnivora prey 
on seals. Seal's meat is so unlike the flesh to which Europeans 
are accustomed, that it is not surprising that we should have 
some difficulty at first in making up our minds to taste it; but 
when once that difficulty is overcome, everyone praises its flavour, 
tenderness, digestibility, juiciness, and its decidedly warming after 
effects. Its colour is almost black, from the large amount of 
venous blood it contains, except in very young seals, and is,. 




ESQUIMAUX DOGS CAPTURING A SEAL. 

therefore, very singular-looking, and not inviting, while its flavour 
is unlike anything else, and cannot be described except by saying 
" delicious ! " To suit European palates, there are certain pre- 
cautions to be taken before it iscooked. It has to be cut in thin 
slices, carefully removing any fat or blubber, and is then soaked 
in salt water for from 12 to 24 hours to remove the blood, which 
gives it a slightly fishy flavour. The blubber has such a strong 
taste that it requires an arctic winter's appetite to find out how 
good it is. The daintiest morsel is the liver, which requires no 
soaking, but may be eaten as soon as the animal is killed. The 



272 



EXPORTS OF SEAL OIL. 



heart is good eating, while the sweetbread and kidneys are not to 
be despised. The usual mode of cooking seal's meat is to stew 
it with a few pieces of fat bacon, when an excellent rich gravy is 
formed, or it may be fried with a few pieces of pork. 

The Esquimaux use every part of the seal, and, it is said, make 
•an excellent soup by putting its blood and any odd scraps of 
meat inside the stomach, heating the contents, and then devouring 
tripe, blood, and all with the greatest relish. " For my own part " 
(observes Dr. Horner) " I would sooner eat seal's meat than mutton 
or beef, and I am not singular in my liking for it, as several of 
the officers on board the Pandora shared the same opinion as 
myself. I can confidently recommend it as a dish to be tried on 
a cold winter's day by those who are tired of the everlasting beef 
and mutton, and are desirous of a change of diet." 

In the Museum Collection, besides a white coat seal skin in the 
natural state, and one dyed, and the stages of preparation of seal 
skin for leather, there is a model Caiak or Esquimaux sealing 
canoe with all its harpoons, weapons, inflated float, and appli- 
ances ; different kinds of seal oil, pale, straw, brown, &c. Porpoise 
oil and sea elephant oil are among the animal oils. 

The following gives the annual average exports of seal oil from 
Newfoundland at quinquennial periods : — 





Tuns. 




Tuns. 


1850 . 


• 4,291 


1865 . 


• 3,538 


1855 . . . 


■ 6,353 


1870 . 


• 4,901 


i860 . 


. 5>8i6 


1874 (4 years) . 


• 4,332 


Seal Skins 


IMPORTED INT 


the United Kingdom. 


1840 . 


. 560,596 


1849 


470,834 


1841 


• 313,362 


1850 . 


779,924 


1842 . 


• 153,828 


1851 . . 


769,756 


1843 . 


• 772,697 


1852 . . 


8n,530 


1844 . 


• 563,947 


1853 • • 


850,550 


1845 • 


. 632,304 


1854 • 


661,552 


1846 . 


. 428,633 


1855 . . 


601,002 


1847 • 


• 753,HI 


1856 . . 


681,234 


1848 . 


. 706,267 


1857 . . 


803,438 



FUR SEALS OF COMMERCE. 



273 



1858 . 


719,926 


1867 . 


• • 743,5n 


1859 . . 


. 565,813 


1868 . 


. 780,477 


i860 . 


561,666 


1869 


• • 736,336 


1861 


494,079 


1870 . 


. 73i,9i3 


1862 . 


480,526 


1871 


• - 833,709 


1863 . . 


555,334 


1872 . 


. 657,696 


1864 . , 


342,833 


1873 • 


. . 876,077 


1865 


529,284 


1874 . 


• 755,oo5 


1866 . 


513,671 


1875 . 


• • 629,723 



The Fur Seals of Commerce. — The fur seals and sea lions 
are closely allied, forming the family Otariadce. They are well 
distinguished from the hair seals (Fhoddce) by their external ears 
and long flippers destitute of hair, and with only three nails. 
The hair seals have no external ears, and their flippers are broad, 
short, and covered with hair, having five nails on the hind ones. 
For many years great ignorance prevailed as to the animals 
which furnished the true fur seal-skin of commerce, and even 
yet, professed naturalists admit there is a lack of knowledge with 
regard to them, their natural history having been studied, for the 
most part, only in a limited and fragmentary way, scarcely a 
single species having been fully investigated. Millions have been 
slaughtered for their skins, but those engaged in the murderous 
traffic care nothing for the scientific characters of their victims. 
Naturalists of exploring expeditions have made isolated obser- 
vations and brought home a few skins and skeletons; but for 
connected and extended studies of these commercially valuable 
and scientifically interesting animals, we are mainly indebted to 
the report of Mr. Elliott, who was sent out by the American 
government to investigate the sealing and other resources of their 
lately purchased islands in the North Pacific, and to the obser- 
vations of Captain Musgrave, who beguiled the tedium of a twenty 
months' enforced sojourn on the Auckland Isles by watching the 
species inhabiting that region. 

Mr. A. W. Scott also published in 1873, at Sydney, an elemen- 
tary treatise on " Mammalia recent and extinct," confined however 



274 VARIETIES OF FUR SEALS. 

to the Pinnata, Seals, Dugongs and Whales. In the preface he 
tells us " influenced, by the great commercial value of several 
species of the pinnata, I have felt anxiously desirous to direct, 
without further delay, the attention, and thus possibly secure the 
sympathy, of readers, other than students, to the necessity ot 
prompt legislative interference, in order to protect the oil and fur 
producing animals of our hemisphere against the wanton and 
unseasonable acts committed by unrestrained traders ; and thus 
not only to prevent the inevitable extermination of this valuable 
group, but to utilize their eminently beneficial qualities into a 
methodical and profitable industry. 

" Keeping steadily in view these two objects, I have endea- 
voured by devoting as much space as my limits would permit to 
the consideration of the animals whose products are of such com- 
mercial value to man, and whose extinction would so seriously 
affect his interests, to point out the pressing necessity that exists 
for devising means of protection for the fur seals and the sperm 
and right whales of the Southern Ocean. 

" To evidence what great results may be effected by considerate 
forethought, I may state that under the fostering care of the 
United States Government, the northern fur seals of commerce, 
which but a few years ago were nearly extinct, have already, by 
their rapid increase and mild disposition, developed themselves 
into a permanent source of national wealth. 

" The islands of the Southern Seas, now lying barren and waste, 
are not only numerous, but admirably suited for the production 
and management of these valuable animals, and need only the 
simple regulations enforced by the American Legislature to resus- 
citate the present state of decay of a once remunerative trade, 
and to bring into full vigour another important export to the many 
we already possess." 

There are four classes of seals on the Prybilov Islands 
(Behring's Straits): the fur seal {Otaria \Callorrhinus~\ ur sinus), 
the sea lion {Otaria [Eumitopius] stciierii), the hair seal {Phoca 



SEA BEARS. 275 

vttulina), and the walrus (Trichecus rosmarus). The flesh of the 
hair seal is stated to be more juicy and sweet for food than that 
of the fur seal. 

A most instructive report was issued by Mr. Elliott, Assistant 
Agent in the Treasury Department, who was deputed a couple 
of years ago to examine the Prybilov Islands of Alaska, the 
great rendezvous of the sea bears, as they are termed, which 
gives hints for the practical management of these lucrative 
fisheries for the future. Mr. Elliott informs us that the finest 
sorts of the true fur seals repair to these Islands annually to 
breed, in fabulous numbers — that but few members of the 
animal kingdom exhibit a higher order of instinct and intelligence 
— and, that the male sea bear is, of all brute polygamists, the 
most notorious. 

The adult male is from 51 to 71 feet in length, and weight 
about 400 lbs. Millions of them may be seen at once on 
some of their " rookeries," or breeding grounds, along the coasts 
of the rocky islands they frequent. In the month of June the 
bull seals arrive in thousands, and the females come up out 
of the sea in still greater numbers about three or four weeks 
later. Some of the bulls display wonderful strength and courage. 
They swim very swiftly, and are as great a 'terror to the 
smaller species of seals, such as the P. vitulina and the like, 
as the great sea lion is to them. Their skin, which is very 
thick, is covered externally with hair like that of the common 
seal, but a good deal longer, and standing erect about the 
shoulders of the male. Beneath this external hair, the animal's 
body is clothed in the soft wool, which, in a manufactured state 
is familiar to us all ; and is such a large source of revenue to 
the London and Continental furriers in the shape of ladies' seal- 
skin cloaks, jackets, trimmings, and comfortable articles of wear 
for the winter. 

Sir George Simpson, who had many opportunities of studying 
the habits of the North American animals in their native haunts, 

t 2 



276 STATISTICS OF FUR SFALS. 

speaking of the fur seal in former times, says : — " Twenty or 
thirty years ago there was a most wasteful destruction of the fur 
seal, when young and old, male and female, were indiscriminately 
knocked on the head. This improvidence, as every one might 
have expected, proved detrimental in two ways. The race was 
almost extirpated and the market was glutted to such a degree, at 
the rate of some 200,000 skins a year, that the prices did not 
even pay the expenses of carriage. The Russians, however, have 
now adopted nearly the same plan which the Hudson's Bay 
Company pursues in recruiting any of its exhausted districts, 
killing only a limited number of such males as have attained 
their full growth — a plan peculiarly applicable to the fur seal, 
inasmuch as its habits render the system of husbanding the stock 
as easy and certain as that of destroying it." 

In Mr. DalPs work, " Alaska and its Resources," the Arctic fur 
seal trade is fully detailed, and the numbers caught seem to have 
been very large, as will be seen by the following figures : — 



Caught 1786 to 1797 557,024 

Exported 1797 to 1821 1,767,340 

Sold in the Colonies ditto 377,642 

Caught 1821 to 1842 758,502 

Caught 1842 to 1862 372,894 



Total in 76 years 3,833,402 

Or an average of more than 50,000 a-year. 

The contract for taking fur seals on the islands of St. Paul 
and St. George, in Alaska, was a few years ago awarded by the 
American Congress to the Alaska Commercial Company, of San 
Francisco. This company is to have the privilege for twenty 
years, on payment of 55,000 dollars annual rental, 62 J- cents 
on each skin taken, and 55 cents for each gallon of seal oil 
obtained. 

The report of Lieutenant Washburn Maynard, of the United 



VARIETIES OF SEA LIONS. 277 

States Navy, who was detailed to accompany Mr. Elliott to Alaska 
has been laid before Congress. Lieutenant Maynard states that 
the Alaska Company are observing their contract, 100,000 seals 
are annually killed by them, and 12,000 by the natives for food, 
under the direction of the Government agent. The number 
is experimental, and Lieutenant Maynard is of opinion that the 
effect upon the increase or decrease of seal life upon the islands 
cannot be discovered for six or seven years from the making of 
the contract. He gives a chapter on the sea otter, the skin of 
which animal is ten times as valuable as the seal. He reports, 
as do others, that this animal is rapidly disappearing by the 
indiscriminate slaughter of the female and young otter, the 
constant harassing by hunters, and the use of fire-arms in 
their capture, and he indicates that prompt measures must 
be taken, or it will be too late to preserve the otter from 
extinction. 

Mr. J. Willis Clarke gave a Lecture on Sea Lions before the 
Zoological Society, which was published in the " Contemporary 
Review" for Dec. 1875. 

According to this naturalist, there are nine well authenticated 
species of sea lions, thus distributed : in the North Pacific three, 
Otaria [Callorrhinus] ur sinus, 0. Gillespii, and O. stellerii ; in the 
South Pacific, around Cape Horn, and in the South Atlantic as far 
north as Rio de la Plata, two species, O.jubata, and O. Falklandica; 
about the Cape of Good Hope and the adjacent Islands, one, 
O. pusilla or antarctica; around Australia and New Zealand, 
two, O. Hooker i and O. lobata; and at Kerguelen's Land, one, 
O. gazella. 

Sea Lions (Eumitopius [Otaria] stelleri, Mull.). — These animals 
are abundant on most of the rocky islands of Alaska. They 
appear in May, and remain until late in the fall. The males 
often weigh two or three tons. Their hide and oil are used for 
the same purpose as those of the walrus, though inferior in 
quality. The whiskers of the sea-lion are as large as a quill, and 



278 FLESH AND BLUBBER OF FUR SEAL. 

sometimes fifteen inches long. They are exported to China, the 
Chinese paying a high price for them to use as toothpicks. The 
gall is also disposed of in China, being used in the manufacture 
of silk. 

The flesh of the fur seal and sea-lion serve the Aleuts for food, 
and their blubber for fuel. The flesh of the fur seal forms but a 
small portion of the body; the greater part is blubber, and 
this is more noticeable because of the thousands of carcases of 
seals which are scattered over the Aleutian Islands. If these 
were composed of a large part of muscular fibre, as is the case 
with the walrus, the decaying bodies would breed a pestilence. 
The flesh of a young fur seal, placed in running water overnight, 
and then broiled, is far from disagreeable — in fact, it tastes 
exactly like mutton-chop. The young sea-lion is said to be even 
better eating, and both present a marked contrast to the fetidity 
of the flesh of the hair seal {Phocd) of Norton Sound. The 
Aleuts make of the skin of the flippers boot soles, which are very 
durable. 

The fat cut from the nearest carcase serves them for fuel. The 
blubber of the fur seal yields oil of the first quality, and is worth 
about two dollars a gallon • yet for many years hundreds of barrels 
have fertilised the hillsides, for want of some one to preserve it. 
Each seal will furnish half a gallon, which would give, for 100,000 
seals, about 1,000 barrels of oil, worth at least ;£i 2,000; this has 
always been wasted. In fact, the oil is worth as much as the skins 
at the islands.* 

Sea lions are unknown in the Atlantic except in the extreme 
south, though the Atlantic abounds in true seals, from which 
the sea lions differ in several particulars. The more obvious 
difference is the possession of external ears, which seals lack. 
They have besides a long, mobile, flexible neck, whereas in 
seals the neck is short and scarcely perceptible. Then their 
limbs are still available for locomotion on land, while those of 
* Dall's " Alaska and its Resources." 



NORTHERN FUR SEAL, 279 

seals have lost all power of supporting the body out of water. 
Lastly, they possess the fatal gift of under fur, which gives them 
their commercial importance, and threatens to cause their un- 
timely extermination. 

From time immemorial two species (Qtaria [Eumitopius] stellerii 
and O. Gillespif) have inhabited an island in San Francisco Har- 
bour. Protected by the civic authorities, they have multiplied 
enormously, threatening the entire destruction of the salmon 
once so plentiful in all California!! rivers. 




NORTHERN FUR SEAL, THE SEA BEAR OR SEA LION OF ALASKA. 

Of the Arctic or Behring Sea species (Callorhinus ursinus, Gray) 
not less than six million skins have been obtained since 1741. 
The Hudson's Bay Company received between 1856 and 1866 
upwards of 4,000. 

They are killed by a blow on the back of the head with a heavy 
sharp-edged club. The Aleut then plunges his sharp knife into 
the heart, and with wonderful dexterity, by a few sweeps of his 



280 SLAUGHTER OF FUR SEALS. 

long weapon, separates the skin from the blubber to which it is 
attached. The nose and wrists are cut around, and the ears and 
tail left attached to the skin. When the operation is over the 
skin is of an oval shape, with four holes where the extremities 
protruded. These skins are then taken and laid in a large pile, 
with layers of salt between them; after becoming thoroughly 
salted they are done up, two together, in square bundles, and 
tied up with twine. They are then packed for transporta- 
tion to London, where all the fur seals are dressed. (Dall's 
"Alaska.") 

The claim of the North Pacific sea lions to public interest arises 
from the circumstance that eighty per cent, of the seal fur now 
supplied to the markets of the world comes from the islands of 
Behring's Sea, and the indications are that in a few years the 
Alaskan possessions of America will be the only source of this 
beautiful fur. Everywhere else the slaughter goes on without 
regard to system, age, or sex, and already many islands which 
used to furnish thousands of skins every year have been entirely 
depopulated. Not less than a million skins were taken from 
the Island of Masafuera, off the coast of Chili. In two years, four 
hundred thousand skins were obtained from a small island near 
Australia. From the South Shetland Islands, three hundred and 
twenty thousand were taken in 1820 and 182 1, males and females 
being slaughtered indiscriminately, and the young left to die. It 
is hardly necessary to add that, in a few years, this horrid and 
wasteful process wrought its own destruction. 

The resorts of the sea lions of the north were discovered in 
1786, and a Russian fur company at once established. For 
thirty years from eighty to ninety thousand skins a year were 
brought away, the killing being done without regard to sex or 
system. About 181 7 it was observed that the animals had 
diminished in numbers. For twenty years more the wasteful 
slaughter went on, until but a tithe of the original number ap- 
peared. Then the slaughter was regulated, the number of skins 



"ROOKERIES" OF THE FUR SEALS. 281 

restricted, and the females left undisturbed. When the islands 
came into the possession of the United States, the system was 
substantially continued, with the result of giving them almost a 
monopoly of the entire seal fur trade. According to Mr. Elliott's 
calculation, as many as three million breeding seals annually con- 
gregate on the two islands, St. Paul and St. George, to which 
they resort ; the yearlings and males under six years of age he 
sets down at two millions, making a population of upwards of five 
millions. Only young males are allowed to be killed, and the 
number is limited to one hundred thousand. Females are not 
molested, and no killing is permitted within several miles of the 
" rookeries," as the resting places of the females and their cubs 
are called. 

When the time for killing arrives, usually in June, the killers 
select some " hauling ground " of the young males — for the old bulls 
do not allow them to associate with the females — and, armed with 
clubs, get between them and the sea. The animals, startled by 
the sight of the men and frightened by their shouts, scramble 
rapidly landwards, and are leisurely driven to the killing grounds. 
In favourable weather they can travel at the rate of half a mile an 
hour, the most effective implement for driving being an umbrella. 
At the killing ground they are allowed to rest awhile, after which 
the fittest are selected and killed with clubs, a single blow on the 
head being sufficient for each. The rest are allowed to return to 
the sea. 

For many years the stiff coarse hair, which conceals the under 
fur, was plucked out by hand. It was finally discovered that the 
roots of the hair were more deeply seated than those of the fur, 
and that, by shaving the skin from the underside until the hair 
roots were cut away, the hair could easily be brushed away, leav- 
ing the under fur intact, thus greatly simplifying and cheapening 
the work of preparing the skins. Naturally, the under fur is curly 
and of a light brown colour ; but as the ladies prefer a darker 
shade, it is dyed, in which process the curls untwist and the fur 



282 ANTARCTIC FUR SEALS. 

becomes smooth. The mode of preparation is described at 

p. 211. 

The Government rents the islands for 50,000 dollars a year, and 
imposes a revenue tax of two dollars on each skin taken. Accord- 
ing to late accounts, the seal population of the islands is steadily 
increasing, and it is considered that the number allowed to be killed 
might safely be increased also. In view of the probable early 
extermination of the fur-bearing seals, so called, of other regions, 
however — at least, so great a reduction of their numbers as to 
make the taking of them unprofitable — it is to be hoped that 
no risks will be run in the only place where they have any 
chance of perpetuation. Better under-kill than over-kill, even 
if the demands of the ladies should be scantily gratified. 
Properly managed, the Alaskan Islands will remain for ever the 
chief source, perhaps the only source, of this beautiful and 
valuable fur. 

When full grown, a sea lion is about 15 ft. long and weighs 
16 cwt. The chief home of these seals is the ocean and shores 
between Russian North America and the opposite shores of Russia 
itself — that is to say, about Behring's Straits and Behring's Sea. 
They are found also in the Kurile Islands and east coast 01 
Kamschatka. 

The sea lions of the Southern Ocean are the Otaria jubata and 
O. Falklandica. These have been pursued with an indiscriminate 
slaughter in the high Antarctic latitudes by the seal hunters who 
annually go south to the Crosets, Kerguelen Island, and other 
desolate places for skins and oil ; instead of only destroying a pro- 
portion of the adult males, they put to death the females also, and 
the helpless cubs perish from cold and hunger alongside the dead 
bodies of their mothers. 

The Antarctic fur seal (Ardophoca Falklandica, Peters, Olaria 
Falklandica) was at one time common in the Falkland group and 
the adjacent seas. The skins (which were worth fifteen Spanish 
dollars, according to Sir John Richardson) are from four to five 



III III v\\ \\ 

- ,. ,.,ISl. i 







284 THE SEA ELEPHANT. 

feet long, covered with reddish down, over which stiff grey hair 
projected. They were especially hunted on the Falkland Islands, 
Terra del Fuego, New Georgia, South Shetland, and the coast of 
Chili. Three-and-a-half million of skins were taken from Masa- 
fuera to Canton between 1793 and 1807 (Dallas). 

The Sea Elephant (Macrorrhinus angustirostris, Phoca pro- 
boscidea, Peron) of California has only been well described since 
1866. The males have a sort of small trunk, but no tusks. Its 
flesh is not only black, oily, and indigestible, but it is also almost 
impossible to separate it from the lard. The tongues alone 
supply really good aliment, and they are salted with care and 
esteemed in the market. The heart is sometimes eaten, but it is 
hard and indigestible; and with regard to the liver, which is 
esteemed in some seals, according Dr. Hamilton, it would appear, 
after repeated trials, to be hurtful. 




walrus {Trichecus roswarus), showing the upper incisors in the 

FORM OF TUSKS. 

The Walrus or Sea-horse (Trichecus rosmarus, Rosmarus 
obesus) it has been well remarked, forms a connecting link be- 
tween the mammalia of the land and those of the water, corres- 
ponding in some of its characters both with the bullock and the 
whale. It is often seen of the size of a great ox, and sometimes 
exceeds the dimensions of the gigantic elephant. The chase of 
the walrus in the Arctic regions is of great antiquity. They used 
to congregate by thousands on the Magdalen Islands in the River 



THE WALRUS OR SEA HORSE. 285 

St. Lawrence, but have long been driven far to the north, by their 
pursuers. 

The economic products for which this animal is sought are its 
flesh and its skin, its oil and teeth. Among the inhabitants of 
the Arctic regions its flesh is much valued and esteemed, and is 
greedily eaten along with the lard, and even the skin. 

In ancient times most of the ropes in the vessels of northern 
countries, appear to have been made of walrus skin, and when cut 
into shreds and plaited into cordage, it formed lines which were 
used for the capture of the whale ; these also answer admirably 
for tiller-ropes ; cables, too, were wont to be manufactured from 
them, and the Finlanders used to pay tribute to the king in 




WALRUS SKULL, SHOWING THE POWERFUL CANINE TEETH. 

this form. When tanned the skin is converted into a soft porous 
leather, above an inch in thickness, but it is not so useful nor 
so durable as in its green or raw state. It might do for har- 
ness and carriage leather. The hide has been successfully used 
for belting, and covering skin boats. 

A recent American paper states that " probably not less than 
fifty thousand walrus, with their young, were killed and destroyed 
last year (1875) by our arctic whalemen. The arctic walrus never 
forsake their young, but will take them in their flippers and hold 
them to their breasts, even when their destroyers are putting their 



286 



PRODUCTS OF THE WALRUS. 



sharp lances through and through them and the blood is streaming 
from every side, uttering the most heartrending and piteous cries 
until they die. But the worst feature of the business is, that the 
natives of the entire Arctic shore are now almost entirely dependent 
upon the walrus for their food, clothing, boots, and dwellings. 




WALRUS ON THE ICE. 



Twenty years ago whales were plentiful and easily caught ; but 
they have been driven north, so that now the natives seldom get 
a whale." 

These animals are abundant near Port Mollis in Bristol Bay, 
and on the more northern coast and islands of the Alaska terri- 
tory. The oil is valuable, but they seldom yield more than 20 
or 30 gallons. The teeth, which weigh about 4 lbs. the pair 
(although many books give them at half-a-ton !), used to be in 
great demand by dentists. Among the Chinese the dentine or 
ivory is employed for those curious uses to which they turn ivory 
so skilfully. This oil is a well known article of commerce. 
There is no doubt but that the annual supply might be largely 
augmented. The quantity of walrus tusks obtained in Alaska 
averages 100,000 lbs. in weight. These canines are sometimes 



TUSKS OF THE WALRUS. 287 

two feet long. The Hudson's Bay Company occasionally import 
about 100 lbs. or 200 lbs. weight in the year. 

There are some stuffed heads of the walrus on the east wall 
of the Museum, one male, and two female ; samples of walrus 
hide in Case 140 and the skin prepared as chamois leather. 



CHAPTER X. 

MAMMALS OF SECONDARY IMPORTANCE. 

We diverge in this chapter from the higher class of mammals to notice 
some few which are of minor interest in an economic point of 
view. These a?'e monkeys, bats, insectivorous and toothless animals, 
such as the hedgehog, the tatoo, the porcupine, ant-eater, a?id the 
pangolins or scaly ant-eaters. The rodent or gnawing animals 
ai'e, however, more extensive and important, having regard to their 
commercial prodiccts, many of them yielding furs, while others, 
such as hares and rabbits, contribute largely to the food of man. 

Leaving the Carnivora, we have now to bestow a passing 
glance at a few orders of mammals, which have but a limited 
commercial or economic value, but still can scarcely be passed 
over altogether without incidental notice. These are the Qua- 
drumana, the Cheiroptera, the Insectivora, and the Edentata ; the 
Rodentia will require a more detailed description. 

Monkeys. — In an economic point of view the Quadrumana are 
not of much importance. Live animals, it is true, are in request 
for Zoological Gardens, and the skeletons and skulls of some of 
the rarer species, as the Troglodytes Gorilla, realize a high price. 
Attempts have been made to introduce monkey skins into com- 
merce as furs, and specimens of these black and grey monkey 
skins are shown in the Museum Collection. The long shaggy 
black skin of one species, the white-thighed Colobus, with a silky 
fur, obtained from the Gaboon, West Africa, when first introduced 
met with a very dull sale. The price at which it could be bought, 
however, encouraged speculators, and the skin was largely manu- 
factured into muffs, which from the low rate they were offered at, 
and the really good appearance they presented, did not fail to 
receive a favourable reception from the ladies. 



USES OF MONKEYS. 



289 



A fashion arose, and from the original price of is. per skin, 
they advanced in the year i860 to 12s. per skin. Imitation by 
another long-haired fur, and less care in manufacture, occasioned 
the skins again to recede, and will afford time to the monkeys, 
(who must have been sorely hunted,) to recruit their numbers. 
There are two other species of monkey which might be intro- 




a. Head of Aye-Aye of Madagascar {Cheiromys Madagascai'iensis). 

b. Head of White-necked Marmoset {JaccJms bicolor). 

c. Head of East Indian Red Monkey {Macacus rufescens). 



duced with advantage ; they are the Diana monkey and the 
Colobus guereza, found in Abyssinia, which is black but covered 
with a kind of mantle of long white hair, this, parting on the 
back, covers all the body. Monkeys are more extensively eaten 
as food than is generally supposed, in the Eastern Archipelago, 
Africa, and South America. In some places monkeys have been 
trained to ascend the palms and throw down the cocoa-nuts. 



290 BATS— HEDGEHOGS. 

In the Museum collection there is a stuffed specimen of a small 
ourang-outang and a necklet of monkeys' teeth. 
1 We give an illustration showing the facial varieties of some few 
different monkeys (p. 289). 

Bats. — Specimens of the large edible flying fox or bat (Ptcropus 
edulis), which is regarded as a delectable food by the natives of 
Siam, were shown at the Dublin Exhibition of 1865. They are 
caught in bags at the end of a pole. The flesh is said to be 
white, delicate, and remarkably tender, and like the flesh of 
most bats is generally eaten throughout the islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago, as is also that of the fox monkey or flying lemur 
(Galeopit/iecus volans). 

In caverns in different countries there are large deposits of 
bat guano, which are utilised for fertilising land. In numerous 
caves from Virginia to Texas are found deposits of this excrement,, 
sometimes reaching to many thousands of tons in extent. The 
Governor of the Bahamas reports that in caves in those islands 
there is probably 400,000 tons of this manure. 

There is a skin of the vampyre bat (P7iyllosioma spectrum), the 
dangerous bloodsucker of the South American tropics, among the 
fur series in the Museum collection ; also one of the common 
mole (Talpa Europcea), the skins of which have some small value. 

Hedgehog (Erinaceus Europceus). — The flesh of this animal 
Avhen it has been well fed is said to be sweet and well flavoured, 
and is eaten in many places on the Continent. But in Britain 
few besides the gipsies partake of it. The prickly skin appears to 
have been used by the Romans for hackling hemp, but teasels 
and metallic " cards " have long supplanted it. It is used some- 
times as a muzzle on the Continent in weaning a calf, and is 
occasionally fastened to the pole of a carriage to prevent the 
horses rubbing against it. From its fondness for insects the 
hedgehog is often placed in London kitchens and bakehouses 
to keep down the swarms of cockroaches with which they are 
infested. 



TATOO— AUSTRALIAN PORCUPINE. 291 

Edentata. — There are a few of the toothless animals which 
are laid under contribution for food. Wallace tells us he found 
the flesh of the sloth tender and palatable. The echidna or 
native porcupine of Australia, which belongs to this order, is said 
to taste like a sucking pig. The flesh of the great scaly ant-eater 
(Myrmecophaga jubatd) is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians and 
negroes in Brazil and Western Africa, and though black and of a 
strong musky flavour, is sometimes even met with at the tables of 
Europeans. Most of the varieties of armadillo are used for food 
in South America. The animal is roasted in its skin, and is 
esteemed one of the greatest delicacies of the country. 

The flesh of the Tatoo (Dasypus 12-rinctus and D. villosus) 
of South America is much esteemed. That of the hybrid species 
of the River Plate is one of the most exquisite meats that can be 
eaten. The animals have a scaly carapace or a hard shell-like 
armour which, divided into regular compartments, covers their 
head and body and often their tail. 

The Porcupine or Spiny Ant-eater {Echidna hystrix) is 
similar in its size and general appearance to the English hedge- 
hog, except that it has a long and slender snout, and has the 
power of protruding its tongue to a considerable distance. It is 
a burrowing animal, and although ordinarily of dull and slothful 
habits it makes its way into the ground with extraordinary rapidity ; 
in fact, considering its size, its muscular power is very great. The 
upper surface of the body is covered with thick spines of a dirty 
yellowish colour, blackish at the points, and averaging about an 
inch and three quarters in length. Below these the body is 
covered with dark fur. When attacked or alarmed the animal 
will coil himself like a hedge-hog, and burying his nose in the 
earth, leave nothing but a round of prickles exposed, which 
neither man nor beast can touch with impunity. The genus 
Echidna has a very extensive distribution in Australia, but is 
generally found on the rocky coast, never far in the interior. 
These animals, of which there are two species, the brush-tailed 



292 CANADIAN PORCUPINE. 

and the branded ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), are not very- 
numerous, but may frequently be met with even in the vicinity 
of Sydney by those acquainted with their habits and with the 
mode of tracing them. Feeding largely on ants' eggs, the flesh 
is delicate meat, resembling that of a young sucking pig, and 
considered superior to hare. 

Of the pangolins or scaly ant-eaters there are several species. 

Mam's javanica is met with in Siam and the mountains and 
southern provinces of China. The dark yellow scales are much 
used medicinally in China for all sorts of maladies either calcined 
or in their natural state, being considered a remedy for ulcers and 
a cure for the itch, to which the Chinese are much subject. The 
scale is often fixed on a bamboo to scratch the skin by those 
troubled with the itch. 

We now reach the Rodents or gnawing animals, and find many 
of these are of great service to man. 

The Canadian Porcupine (Hystrix pilosus, Catesby ; Ere- 
thrizon dorsatus, Linn.). — The Indians and hunters in the United 
States and about the Rocky Mountain ranges eat the flesh of this 
animal, but to a more refined taste it would be unpalatable. 
The quills or spines are much used for embroidering the only 
really tasteful articles to be found among the natives of those 
regions and of which considerable quantities are sold in the 
American cities. The Slave Indians, dwelling along the McKenzie 
and Liard's Rivers, are reckoned the most skilful fabricators of 
this manufacture. The things made out of them consist of belts, 
bands, garters, bracelets \ and they are also used for ornamenting 
birch bark-work, baskets, shot pouches, dresses, and shoes. In 
manufacturing belts, &c, a frame-work of sinew-thread is first 
laid, through which the quills are interwoven in squares, something 
in the manner of Berlin-wool work. The articles, when finished, 
are very pretty, and some of the women are sufficiently adepts to 
follow any angular pattern which may be set them. 

The flesh of the common crested porcupine {Hystrix cristatd) is 



AGOUTI— PACA— BIZCACHA. 



2 93 



considered very delicate food, and is often eaten at dinners in 
Rome, being sold at $d. per pound, the porcupine being not un- 
common in the Campagna. It is said they should be cooked 
like a hare or with wine sauce like a wild boar. It is hunted in 
Algeria, and the quills are exported from the ports of northern 
Africa; in 1873 about 21,000 valued at £60, were shipped from 
Morocco. 

The flesh of the Agouti (Dasyproda) of South America is 
firm, white, tender and well tasted, and when fat and well dressed 
is by no means unpalatable food. It has been sometimes termed 
the rabbit of South America. That of the Cavy (D. acuc/ii), a 
smaller species, also resembles it. The flesh of the Guinea-fig 
(Cavia aperoea) is white and savoury. That of the wild species 
common in Central America is very delicate. 




$Mm. 



CHINCHILLA LANIGERA. 



The Paca or spotted cavy {Calogenys fulgis and C. subnige?) 
is one of the best game animals of Brazil and breeds freely when 
domesticated. Its flesh is said to be very savoury and forms 
a staple article of food in many parts of South America. 

The skins of the Bizcacha or Vizcacha (Calomys bizcacha) of 



294 



CHINCHILLA— BE A VER. 



Buenos Ayres have occasionally found a market in England on 
account of their fur. The flesh of this animal when cooked is 
very white and good, but is seldom used, other animal food being 
so abundant in South America. 

The fur of the Chinchilla {Chinchilla lanigerd) a South 
American rodent, is remarkably soft, and is extensively used both 
in America and Europe. The skins reach us from Chili, Peru, 
New Granada, and Buenos Ayres. In 1837, 37,337 dozen of 
these skins were shipped from Buenos Ayres, valued at 16s. the 
dozen, and 2742 dozen from Arica. There is a specimen of the 
skin among the collection of furs in the Museum. 

Beaver (Castor Canadensis, Kuhl.). Beaver skins were at one 
time a very important article of commerce from America. The 
Hudson's Bay Company in 1743 sent to London 150,000 skins, and 
in 1808, no less than 127,000 were sent from Quebec alone to this 
country. In 1827 from more than four times the extent of terri- 
tory, the amount did not exceed 50,000. But in the last quarter 
of a century they have again become greatly in demand. The 
imports by the Hudson's Bay Company have been as follows of 
late years : — 



1856 . . 


72,482 


1866 . 


150,776 


1857 . 


. . 80, 640 


1867 . 


144,744 


1858 . . 


• 90,217 


IS68 . 


148,040 


1859 . 


. . 107,428 


1869 


157,415 


i860 . 


• 91,459 


1870 . 


122,985 


1861 


. . 106,270 


1871 


169,876 


1862 . 


. 116,144 


1872 . 


165,031 


1863 . 


• . 114,442 


1873 . . 


149,045 


1864 . 


• 143,238 


1874 . . 


117,489 


1865 


• • 118,575 


1875 . . 


146,434 



A beaver skin will be found in the collection of furs of the 
Museum, and there is also a fine stuffed specimen of a beaver 
caught in England. 

In commerce beaver skins, cut open, stretched to a hoop and 
dried in the ordinary manner, are named "beaver parchment,' 



BEAVER SKINS AND HAIR. 



295 



and form by far the greatest part of the importation. When the 
beaver skins have been made into dresses, and worn by the 
Indians it is termed " beaver coat," and though it may have been 
in use a whole season, it still brings a good price. Inferior sized 
skins are named "beaver cub." 

The beaver exists some distance within the arctic circle, and 
the darkest coloured pelts come from Fort Good Hope. The 
Slave and Dog-rib tribes make capotes and robes out of the skin. 




beaver {Castor fiber). 

Beavers are caught in good order at all seasons of the year in 
the Rocky Mountains, as there it is never warm enough to injure 
the fur ; in the low lands, however, along the Missouri, the trappers 
rarely commence their hunting before September, and relinquish 
it about the last of May. Sixty or seventy skins make a pack of 
100 lbs. 

Beaver hair was formerly much employed with the fur of hares 
and rabbits for making hats, but these heavy beaver hats have gone 



296 BEAVER FLESH— CASTOREUM. 

out of fashion. Cloth was also made of it, but it was heavy, dear 
and not agreeable in appearance. 

The flesh and tail of the beaver are amongst the most prized 
dainties of Indian epicures. It used to be considered best 
when roasted in the skin after the hair had been singed off, and 
in some districts it required all the influence of the fur traders to 
restrain the hunters from sacrificing a considerable quantity of 
beaver fur every year to secure the enjoyment of this luxury. 
The flesh resembles pork in its flavour, but Sir John Richardson 
tells us that it requires a strong stomach to sustain a full meal 
of it. 

Castoreum. — The beaver besides its fur furnishes a substance 
used in medicine as an antispasmodic, and commercially known as 
castoreum. The principal imports are by the Hudson's Bay 
Company, and these vary from 1,000 to 5,000 lbs. annually. In 
1875, 3297 lbs. were received. The price ranges from js. to 25^. 
per lb. The taste of Siberian castoreum is much more pronounced 
than that of Canadian in consequence of its greater richness in 
castorine, of which it contains 4*6 per cent, whilst Canadian 
contains but 1*98 per cent. 

In the hunting districts castoreum is extensively used for en- 
ticing the lynx to enter into the snaring cabins. 

The castoreum in its recent state has an orange colour, which 
deepens as it dries, into bright reddish-brown. During the drying, 
which is allowed to go on in the shade, a gummy matter exudes 
through the sac, which the Indians delight in eating. It is never 
adulterated in the fur countries. 

In the trade district of Alaska in the seventy-six years ending 
with 1862, 2,500 lbs of castoreum was obtained. 

Musk Rat or Musquash. (Fiber Zibethicus). The geographical 
range of this animal is extensive, from 30 to 6o° north. 

Though they have a strong musky flavour, particularly in spring, 
their flesh is eaten by the Indians in North America, who prize it 
for a time when it is fat, but soon tire of it. The musky odour is 



MUSK RAT OR MUSQUASH. 



297 



owing to a whitish fluid deposited in certain glands near the 
origin of the tail. The skin, when taken from the body, still retains 
the scent. The fur on the whole body is soft and glossy, and 
beneath is a finer fur or thick down as in the beaver, but shorter 
and less lustrous. 

Still it is a beautiful fur, and when dyed and plucked, its resem- 
blance to the fur seal is so great as to deceive any but dealers. 
Twenty years ago they used to fetch a shilling a skin. 




musk rat {Fiber Zibethiciis). 

Great numbers of these skins were formerly used in America, 
and sent to Europe for making beaver hats ; but since the general 
use of silk hats, the demand for this purpose has passed away. 
They are however now in great request as a fur. In 1824 only 
about 5000 skins were exported to Great Britain from America ; 
now the quantities collected by the Hudson's Bay Company are 
enormous, ranging between 400,000 and 600,000 annually. The 
lowest number sent of late years has been 177,000. 

The European musk rat is met with about the River Volga, and 
the adjacent lakes from Novgorod to Saratov. The price at 
Orenburg in olden times used to be as low as jd a hundred for 



298 HAMSTER— BROWN RAT. 

these skins. And even in later years they were so common near 
Nishni Novgorod that the peasants would bring in 500 each to 
market, which they sold at 3^. 6d. a hundred. The skins and 
tails were put into chests and wardrobes in Russia to preserve 
clothes from moths. The skins were also believed to guard the 
wearers of them from fevers and pestilence. 

Hamster (Cricetus vulgar e, F. Cuv. ; Mus cricetus, Linn.). — The 
fur of this animal is useful for many purposes, and they are some- 
times found entirely black. Hamsters are great depredators to 
corn, and hence ruthlessly destroyed. In some years as many as 
So,ooo skins of these little animals have been brought to the 
town-hall of Gotha. 

The skins of the Berwitski or Siberian mice (Mus striatus, Linn.) 
are used as a fur. 

The Bohemian ladies used to make cloaks of the skins of the 
Souslik or Zizel — (Mus citellus, Linn.). The spotted kinds make 
very beautiful linings. 

The Brown Rat (Mus decumanus, Linn.). This very destruc- 
tive animal, according to the accounts of historians, came from 
Asia to Europe, about the beginning of the seventeenth century ; 
was unknown in England before 1730, and, according to Dr. 
Harlan, did not make its appearance in North America until 
the year 1775. Rat skins are said to be used in Paris for making 
gloves. 

Marmots. — There are several marmots in the northern parts of 
America, viz., the hoary marmot, Arctomys firuinosus, Gmelin, 
A. ke/micotii, and A. monax. The latter is known as the wood- 
chuck in the United States. Out of the skins of all these the 
mountain tribes of Indians make robes, and the flesh is considered 
good when fat. 

The Quebec Marmot (Arctomys anpetra, Schreber), inhabits 
the woody districts from Canada to lat. 6i° and perhaps still 
further north. Its fur is not of much value. The hoary marmot, 
or whistler (A. firuinosus, Pennant), is of the size of the wood- 



VARIETIES OF MARMOT. 



299 



chuck or Maryland marmot. It is covered with a beautiful long 
silver-gray hair and has a long bushy tail. The Indians consider 
their flesh as delicious food ; by sewing a number of their skins 
together they make good blankets. Some of the spines are 
entirely white, others brown at the tips. 







yi §M^m^^mMmm^ 



QUEBEC MARMOT {Arctomys empetra). 



Ground squirrel or Sineur. The Tawny marmot {Arctomys 
Richardsonii). The fur is stout and fine, and of two kinds— a 
short down and longer and coarser hairs. 3639 marmot skins 
were imported from North America in i860, some are received 
under the name of Weenusk. They are obtained from the 
Arctomys empetra, Spermophilus Farryz, Rich. 
The European marmots are : — 

The Polish marmot (A. bobac). 

The Marmot of the Alps (A. marmottd). 

Souslik, or marmot of the Volga (A. \Spermophilus\ guttatus). 

Zizil, Susel or Hungarian marmot (A. citellus vel undulatus), 

Siberian marmot or jevraschka (A. concolor) and two or three 
others. These do not produce so fine and close a covering as 
the fur of the North American squirrels. 

From 60,000 to 120,000 marmots are caught every year in the 
country about Aschersleben in Middle Germany, when it retires 



3 co NUTRIA— RABBITS. 

to its winter quarters ; in its fat condition, the marmot is killed 
in great numbers and eaten in parts of Europe. 

Under the name of Nutria, a very large number of the skins of 
the Myopotamus coypus have been in some years imported from 
Soudi America. This rodent has two kinds of fur, long ruddy 
hair, which gives the tone of colour, and a brownish ash-coloured 
fur at its base, which, like that of the beaver, used to be largely 
employed in the hat manufacture. The habits of the coypou are 
much like those of the other aquatic rodent animals. 

In 1837 we imported from Buenos Ayres 622,236 skins, valued 
at sixpence each ; in 1841 and 1842 about 1,200,000 were imported 
yearly; in 1850 only 18,713 were received; in 1858,856,130, 
valued at about q\d. each; and in 1S61, 506,089. 

Rabbits. — The Rabbit (lepus cunicu/us), originally a native of 
Spain, belongs to the same genus as the hare, but differs from it 
considerably in its gregarious habits, its subterranean mode of life, 
its whiter flesh, and the less perfect state of the young when first 
produced. 

"Fancy" rabbits, as they are called, have been kept in this 
country from the earliest times, being mentioned by Caesar in his 
account of Britain. They have been raised from the common 
rabbit by scientific breeding in many countries, particularly in 
Persia and Arabia, whence we have derived several of our present 
breeds. The silver-grey rabbit is much bred for its fur, which 
fetches a high price in China, and is sometimes used here. 

In France about 60,000,000 of rabbit skins are collected annually. 
The principal portion are used for their hair, for hat making, and 
a few millions for furs, when dyed different shades. More than 
sixteen different transformations are given to the skins in France, 
and they are made to assume the appearance of costly furs to suit 
the tastes and customs of different nations. France works up 
seven-eighths of the quantity, and Belgium the other eighth. 

The number of rabbits sold in the markets of Paris in 1845 was 
only 177,000, but in i860 this number had increased to more 



STATISTICS OF RABBITS. 301 

than two millions. Taking the number consumed in Paris at a 
thirtieth of the whole quantity used in the Republic, the total con- 
sumption would be about 70 millions annually. According to 
official returns, the average price of a rabbit exceeds two francs, so 
that the value of those consumed annually may be taken at 

Messrs. Leeding & Co., Borough High Street, state that they 
work up yearly nearly two million hare and rabbit skins, nearly all 
English, for foreign skins do not make such good fur as the 
English and Scotch. They buy the skins principally from poul- 
terers, marine store dealers, and hawkers. They estimate the 
number of skins manufactured in this country annually produced 
and imported at not less than 30,000,000. At an average weight 
of 2 1 pounds each, these would give 35,500 tons of food, and 
valuing each at but is., this amounts to ,£1,500,000, to which 
.£500,000 more must be added for the value of the skins. The 
number of rabbits sold by licensed game dealers in the kingdom 
in 1872 was returned at about 5,200,000, but these are a very 
small proportion of the total sales. 

It was stated by Lord Malmesbury in the House of Lords in 
March, 1873, that Mr. Brooks, the salesman, in Leadenhall 
Market, receives weekly from Ostend 1500 cases, each containing 
100 rabbits; that one gentleman in Somerset sends to Birmingham 
10,000 a week, to Wolverhampton 3000, and to Nottingham 
4,000 weekly. Southampton receives in the year about 90,000. 

The skins of many species of hares and rabbits are valuable for 
common purposes of fur, on account of the almost inexhaustible 
supply. The most common American species are the Lefius 
amcricanus, Z. palustris, I. sylvaticus, L. townsendii, I. glacialis, 
L. aquaticus, I. nigricaudatus. The colours vary from light grey to 
yellowish and reddish brown in summer; in winter white pre- 
dominates. The fur of the polar hare (Z. glacialis) is beautifully 
white and soft, and is sometimes substituted for ermine. When 
beaver hats were worn the felt bodies were made of rabbit skins ; 



302 RABBITS SKINS AND HAIR. 

it is now dyed and made into a great variety of common articles. 
Rabbits' hair and wool has been made in England and America 
into a kind of cloth for ladies' wear, mixed with wool and cotton. 
There is a specimen in the Museum made from the Angora rabbit. 
When properly prepared the hair affords a good strong yarn, which 
is said to be in no way inferior to wool. An important industry is 
likely to grow out of the successful introduction of rabbit hair 
weaving in all countries. It is rather remarkable that the use of 
the hair has not been thought of before, particularly when we 
consider how many hundred millions of rabbits are annually 
destroyed. No animal is better adapted for raising on a large 
scale than the rabbit. They multiply almost as rapidly as white 
mice, and are not confined to any particular climate. 

In one of the Jury Reports of the French International Exhibi- 
tion of 1867, after speaking of the choice varieties of Angora and 
Cashmere rabbits, raised for the fine hair of their fur, often an 
inch to an inch and a half long, which is spun into silky yarn in 
parts of France, and which is so much sought after in North 
America for making certain shawls that £3 are often given for 
fur skins of rabbits only five or six months old, it goes on to 
speak of the profit to be derived from raising rabbits. The 
Ministry of Public Assistance, Paris, buys rabbit skins regularly 
at 6d. per lb. Rabbits breed so rapidly, that they will have from 
6 to 8 litters annually, of from 8 to 1 2 and 1 6 young ones. 

The wild rabbit's skin is more valuable than that of the tame, 
and is largely used in the manufacture of hats. Some of the 
cheaper kinds of muffs, boas, &c, are made of hare and rabbit 
skins, which are dyed to imitate the skins of foreign animals. 
There are about eighty fur-cutting machines in London and the 
provinces, each cutting four hundred and twenty skins a week. 
Each machine employs about twenty-five workpeople on the 
premises, or two thousand all over the kingdom, earning nearly 
^60,000 per annum in weekly wages. About eight thousand 
persons are also employed out of doors in collecting, sorting, 



INCREASE OF RABBITS IN AUSTRALIA. 303 

drying, and otherwise preparing the skins during four months of 
the year, and their earnings amount to something like ^"140,000 
during the season. Thus rabbits, as furnishing a most appreciable 
quantity of animal food, and contributing to several manufacturing 
industries, are by no means to be despised. 

In the Museum collection of furs will be found skins of the 
wild rabbit, the blue rabbit, dyed rabbit skin, Polish rabbit, silver 
rabbit, and the English hare, while in the Waste Products Collec- 
tion are further illustrations of the economic uses of rabbit and 
hare skins and the wool. 

In all the Australian colonies rabbits have multiplied prodigi- 
ously, and the difficulty is to keep down their increase. In South 
Australia the destruction is carried on to such an extent that in 
one district alone in four months capitations were paid on 26,000' 
head. Formerly payment was made on the production of the 
rabbits' tails, but it was discovered that the men were guilty of 
the deception and cruelty of cutting the tails off and letting the. 
rabbits go alive. They are now obliged to kill them, and produce 
the ears and scalps before they get paid. 

In Tasmania rabbits are so numerous that in the Campbell 
Town, Ross, and other districts, it is not unusual for a shooting 
party of three to kill several hundred in an afternoon. On some 
farms the bodies of the rabbits are boiled down as food for the 
pigs. In other parts the skins are taken off and sent to market, 
or are used by the men on the farms for rugs and bedding. 

During the year 1872, 218 bales containing 48,238 dozen of 
Tasmanian rabbit skins were exported, valued at ,£5,860. From 
the 1st of January 1872 up to the first quarter of 1873, tnere were 
over 700,000 rabbit skins shipped, valued there at £7,252. 

Rabbits have increased also in Victoria to such an extent since 
their introduction, that men have been specially employed to 
destroy them. The rapid growth of this comparatively trivial 
industry of rabbit skins, illustrates the commercial activity of the 
colony. When first they were an article of trade their value was 



3o 4 HARES AND HARE SKINS—POLAR HARE. 

6d. a dozen, whereas they are now worth 2s. in Melbourne, and 
sell in London at 3s. 6d. a dozen. About 100,000 dozen are 
shipped annually. The Australians have also begun to preserve 
rabbits in tins, stewed, curried, and fricasseed, for export to 
England. 

Hares. — The number of hares consumed in the United King- 
dom is very large. Those sold by licensed game dealers in 1872 
were returned at 702,830 ; but this by no means represents the 
whole supply. It may be computed that 150,000 at least are 
sold annually in the London markets and shops. The white hare 
comes to us from the north of Scotland, where it changes colour, 
like those in the Arctic regions. 

In France the skin of the hare is not used as a fur. In this 
country they were employed to a small extent as chest protectors, 
but other and cheaper substitutes have now been introduced by 
the chemists. 

In the fur countries the American hare becomes white in the 
winter. This change takes place in the northern districts in the 
month of October, and the animals retain their white coat until 
the end of April, when it begins to fall off, and is replaced by 
their shorter and coloured summer dress. The winter skins of 
this animal are imported by the Hudson's Bay Company under 
the name of " rabbit skins," as it is much like that of the common 
European rabbit. In some parts of the fur countries the natives 
line their dresses with hare skins, and the Hare Indians sometimes 
tear the skins with the fur into strips, and plait them into a kind 
of cloth. They resort to this expedient, however, only from the 
scarcity of deer skins and moose leather, which form closer and 
better dresses. 

The Polar Hare. — The winter fur of this animal (Lepus 
glacialis, Leach) is of a snow-white colour to the roots, and is 
more dense, and of a finer quality than that of the American 
hare. It bears a close resemblance to swandown. The weight 
of a full-grown Polar hare varies, according to its condition, from 



POLAR HARE AND AMERICAN RABBIT. 305 

7 to 14 lbs., and a similar variation in the weight of the common 
British hare is known to exist. Its flesh is whitish and well 
flavoured, being greatly superior to that of the American hare 
(Z. Americanus, Erx.); and also much more juicy than the alpine 
or varying hare of Scotland. 

The Polar hare inhabits both sides of Baffin's Bay, and is 
common on the barren grounds at the northern extremity of the 
American continent. Its southern boundary is about the 
elevated ridge of the Rocky Mountains and the eastern coast of 
Labrador. The fur is in prime order in flat. 65 about the end 
of October, and begins towards the end ©f April to be replaced 
by the summer coat, which is more or less coloured. 

The American Rabbit (Z. campestris, Bach), so essential to 
the welfare of the Chippewyan nation, is spread all over the dis- 
trict, except upon the barren grounds. It is subject to periodical 
failures, which occur with great regularity, and cause no small 
amount of privation and suffering to the Indians, when they 
happen. When the animals are numerous, the Tinne tribes of 
the McKenzie valley subsist altogether on them, and (the skins 
furnish almost entirely their winter clothing — robes, shirts, capotes, 
mittens, and socks being made, which afford a sufficient protection 
against the most severe cold, though they do not form lasting 
garments, as the hair falls out very quickly. 

The import of rabbit skins by the Hudson's Bay Company 
varies, having been as low as 18,500 skins in 1862, and as high 
as 141,400 in 1866. 

Squirrels are found in various countries of the world, but they 
vary in size and colour. Those of temperate Europe have usually 
a reddish fur on the back, and white beneath, but occasionally this 
deepens to a dark brown ; in Russia and other northern parts, 
and in Siberia, the fur becomes of a slate or grey colour in 
winter, and a large number of the skins enter into commerce. 
Many millions are obtained in the Russian territories, and a good 
many are sent to England. The fur is much used as linings for 



306 SQUIRRELS AND THEIR USES. 

tippets and cuffs, for which its softness and cheapness peculiarly 
adapt it. So numerous are the squirrels in parts of California, 
that a bill has passed the Legislature which requires every land- 
owner to exterminate them on his land, and in case of his failure 
to do so, authorizes a public officer to attend to the matter, the 
expense to be a lien on his land, to be collected in the same 
manner as taxes. The skins of the ground squirrel, or hackee, 
( Tamias Lysteri), have been tanned. They are found remarkably 
strong, and as well suited for gloves as the very best kid, which 
the skin somewhat resembles, but is much finer. 

The North American red squirrel (Sciurus hudsonius, Pennant). 
The fur was at one time of no value, but is now an article of 
trade. The flesh is tender and edible, but that of the male has a 
strong murine flavour. The other species most esteemed are, 
S. carolinensis, cat squirrel (S. cinereus), black (S. niger), grey 
(S. migmtoriiis), and fox squirrel (S. capistratus). 

The grey squirrel was long a favourite fur with the Chinese, 
and held the chief place in the barter trade at Kiachta. At the 
end of the last century 7,000,000 of these skins were exchanged, 
and the export rose in 1800 to 10,000,000 skins; but from that 
period it gradually declined, till between 1849 and 1852 the 
average annual export fell to 1,460,000. In 1853 the quantity 
dropped to 344,557. In 1858 it rose to about 1,100,000, and in 
a year or two ceased altogether. The fur of the Russian squirrel 
was formerly largely used also in Europe, but is now seldom 
seen. 

The grey squirrel and black squirrel make excellent pies. The 
flesh tastes like that of a rabbit, but much more juicy. The grey 
squirrel is a common dish in Virginia. It is usually broiled, and 
is very palatable. The large squirrel of the East is excellent 
eating, and its flesh is much valued in Borneo. 

In the fur collection of the Museum will be found specimens 
of the red, black, blue, grey, and Indian squirrels, and a stuffed 
specimen of the flying squirrel (Pteromys volucelld). 



CHAPTER XL 

SOLIDUNGULA AND PACHYDERMS. 

hi this chapter we revert again to the larger and useful animals, 
especially to the thick-skinned ones. The numbers and uses of the 
horse, ass, and mule in various countries are described, and the 
economic products of horse hides and horse hair, with their appli- 
cations noticed. The African and Asiatic elephant, and the extinct 
mammoth elephant receive notice, and very complete statistics of 
the ivory trade are given. 

The Horse, the Ass and the Mule are the useful servants of 
man in various countries, and the services they render cannot be 
overrated, for draught and for the saddle, as well as for the 
secondary products obtained from them after death. 

It would be quite impossible in a limited space to go into 
detail as to the several breeds of horses, and therefore a very 
brief mention of one or two must suffice. 

Dray and Waggon Horses. — Ordinary sized farm horses 
weigh from 12 to 13 cwt. ; riding or harness horses from 10 to 11 
cwt. Amongst the heavy weights on record are a horse which 
belonged to the Carron Co. that weighed i8j cwt. and one to 
Barclay, Perkins & Co., the brewers, which weighed one ton. 

A kind of horse still in demand is what is termed the dray 
horse, thus described in the Farmer's Magazine. 

There are two very important points in these — namely, size, 
and a disposition to accumulate fat ; and this latter property is as 
essential as it is in cattle or sheep. To breed horses of gigantic 
proportions, the first impression that naturally arises with the 
uninitiated, is that of procuring mares of great size and selecting 
for them partners of still greater magnitude. There is nothing, 
however, more uncertain in this respect than the produce of very 



3 o8 DRAY AND CART HORSES. 

large mares. It not unfrequently occurs that a medium sized — 
and sometimes indeed, a small sized — mare breeds very large 
foals, and in the event of one of such offspring being employed as 
a brood mare in the hope that her progeny will be equal to, or 
perhaps exceed, the proportion of the dam, that she gives birth 
to mere insignificant foals. It often happens that her produce 
will in this respect follow their grandam, such is the propensity of 
nature to go back to originals. Very large mares will frequently 
produce one or two foals of great size and many of insignificant 
proportions. 

The heavy-heeled, lethargic mare of elephantine proportions, 
is far from being likely to produce foals that will realize great 
prices as dray-horses in London, but one with a roomy frame, a 
great body on short clean legs, strong shoulders, and vast develop- 
ment in the loins and quarters, put to a stallion of adequate 
proportions, will probably produce what is required, but with the 
utmost caution, success is by no means certain. 

There is another class of horses in great request in London, 
commanding high prices, of lighter make, the breeding of which is 
less precarious ; and they are annually becoming more and more 
in demand, while the dray-horse is becoming less in vogue. 
These are employed for working luggage-vans, in connection with 
the railway stations, and for other purposes of heavy draught in 
which great power is required, and, to meet the usage of the times, 
more activity and pace than the heavy dray or common cart 
horses possess. To produce this description of horse a good- 
shaped active cart mare or a powerful mare of lighter make, is 
crossed with a sire of the Yorkshire or Cleveland breed. 

They must have action and be able to trot at the rate of seven 
or eight miles an hour. Their height should not be less than 
sixteen hands. 

For farming operations, in which they may be advantageously 
employed prior to the time when they have attained an age to 
command the top price of the London markets, they are 



THE ARAB HORSE. 309 

incalculably superior to the huge lumbering dray-horses, which 
for agricultural purposes, conducted as they are at this time, are 
unwieldy, slow and useless brutes. They consume an enormous 
quantity of food, without which it is futile to expect that their 
gigantic frames can attain their proper growth ; and to make them 
fat for sale, the indispensable property they must possess, involves 
an outlay that leaves but an insignificant margin for profit. 

The Arab Horse. — The horses bred in Africa, in Egypt, in 
Arabia, in Syria, in Asiatic Turkey, in Persia, &c, are all of the 
same family, constituting the race known as of eastern blood. 
Strength, agility, vigorousness in form as in action, these are the 
characteristics of the horse the moment he is found beyond the 
Euphrates or below the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Where 
it is on the land of Islamism, it is always temperate, invincible to 
privation and fatigue, living between sand and sky. 

Whether it be known under the names of Turkish, Persian, 
Numidian, Barb or Arab of Syria matters little, these are mere 
prefixes and the name of the family is the horse of the East. The 
other variety, above the Mediterranean, is the European horse. 

So thoroughly established is the excellence of the desert horse 
as compared with the more domesticated kinds of the Arab horse, 
that in selecting Arabs for turf purposes, it is thought among the 
first essentials to pick one that has been all his life in the desert. 

The Arabs have a laconic statement that there are essentials in 
a horse which may be thus enumerated : 

Four things large : the front or brow, the breast, the rump, the 
limbs. Four things long: the chest, the upper ribs, the belly, 
the haunches. Four things short : the back, the pasterns, the 
ears, the tail. 

To this Abd-el-Kader added, that three things should be clear 
or pure : — the eyes, the skin, and the hoofs. 

Statistics of Horses. — From the summary we have been able to 
make there would appear to be, in round numbers, about 39,000,000 
horses in Europe, 16,500,000 in America and the West Indies, 



3io HOUSES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 



nearly 1,000,000 in Australasia and the Pacific Islands, and 
500,000 in South Africa. For the great continent of Asia, there 
are no statistics available, nor as to the numbers of the equine race 
in Mexico, and the five Central American States, British Guiana, 
Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Chili and Paraguay. About 7 J million 
mules and asses have to be added to this number. 

Horses in various countries according to the latest returns. 



Eu 


ROPE. 




Asiatic Islands. 


Russia . . . 


1876, 


21,570,000 


Java . . . 1873., 


632,164 


Sweden 


1874, 


455,907 


Reunion . . . 1874, 


4,155 


Norway . 


1865, 


150,000 


Mauritius . .1875, 


18,969 


Denmark 


1874, 


350,000 


Ceylon . . .1874, 


7,960 


Iceland 


i875, 


29,000 


West Indies. 




German Empire 

Holland . 

Belgium 

France 

Portugal . . . 


1873, 
1873, 
1866, 

1874, 
1870, 


3,352,231 

253,394 
283,163 

3,633,605 
79,716 


Jamaica . . 1869, 
Martinique and 

Guadaloupe . 1874, 
Barbados (estimated), 
Other West India 


74,157 

9,5°2 
5,000 


Spain . 

Italy . . . 


1865, 
1874, 


672,559 
500,000 


Islands (estimated), 


10,000 


Austria Proper . 


1871, 


1,367,023 


America. 




Hungary 


1870, 


2,179,811 


United States . 1875, 


9, 504, 200 


Switzerland . . 


1868, 


100,000 


Argentine Con- 




Greece 


1867, 


98,938 


federation . . 1875, 


4,000,000 


Ionian Isles . . 


i860, 


12,000 


Uruguay . . 1873, 


1,600,000 


Turkey . 


1874, 


1,100,000 


Canadian Do- 




Great Britain 


1875, 


2,255,129 


minion . . 187 1, 


2,624,290 


Ireland . . . 


1875, 


534,883 


Other Brit. Amer. 

Provinces . . 1871, 

Australasia. 


100,470 


Africa. 




New South Wales 1875, 


346,691 


Egypt . 


1871, 


19,359 


Queensland . . 1874, 


99,243 


Algeria . . . 


1861, 


165,402 


Victoria . . . 1875, 


180,254 


Cape Colony 


i875, 


207,318 


South Australia . 1875, 


93,122 


Orange Free State 


1859, 


27,552 


Western Australia 1875, 


26,636 


Natal . . . 


1874, 


23,443 


Tasmania . . 1875, 
New Zealand . 1874, 
Hawaiian Isles . 1866, 


23,473 
99,261 
25,000 



Formerly, the only means for travelling from place to place was 
on the back of a horse ; and then, as might be expected, a breed 
of horses with adequate powers to carry men was studiously kept 



DEMAND FOR HORSES. 311 

up. But improvements in roads, and the construction of wheel 
carriages, have long afforded a different and more easy mode of 
conveyance. Besides, we now have railways and locomotive 
steam-power whisking the traveller (ay, and his horse too) along 
at a marvellous rate, annihilating space, to some station or terminus, 
whence he takes refuge in the mob of a 'bus, or in a cab, drawn by 
miserable horses, equal only to the short distance they have to 
drag the load. 

In the year 1832, before railways were generally formed, the 
total number of horses used for riding and drawing carriages in 
Great Britain which contributed to the assessed taxes was 182,878; 
in 1862 their number was 306,798, besides 263,391 used in trade, 
&c. ; and in 1872 they had increased to 907,000. The duty has 
now been abolished. 

The nominal horse-power of the engineer — the steam-horse — is 
so rapidly taking the place of the bona fide draught of the equine 
animal that we are beginning to overlook, in many instances, our 
old friend the horse, and yet he does not decline in price or 
demand. The 7000 locomotives running over some 16,000 miles 
of rail in the United Kingdom annually, and those traversing a 
greater mileage in the United States, to say nothing of the con- 
tinent and the colonies, and South America, are doing much of 
the haulage in pleasure and traffic for which we had formerly to 
depend upon horses. Still, to mount the large armies kept up, to 
move the artillery, ambulances, &c, and to facilitate the traffic of 
towns and railway stations, horses continue in great request, 
although their opponent— steam — is fast driving them from the 
plough-team and other farm uses. The difficulty to obtain horses 
of suitable powers as remounts for cavalry is yearly increasing. 

War makes sad havoc among horses. The civil' war in the 
United States reduced the number of horses in that great republic 
fully one million. The average destruction in the Federal army 
alone was not less than 500 per day. The Franco-German war 
also entailed a heavy destruction of horses. 



3 i2 EXPORT OF HORSES FROM ENGLAND. 

The scarcity of horses in England is becoming a matter of 
general anxiety, not only to individuals who require the use of 
horses, but to the Government, which has to make provision 
for the service of the cavalry and artillery. Lord Rosebery, 
in a debate in the House of Lords three years ago, stated that 
while we now had 6,600 cavalry horses and 6,000 artillery horses, 
in case of war we should require 2,500 cavalry horses and 4,000 
artillery horses more, and not fewer than 25,000 light and 75,000 
heavy transport horses. 

We have been largely exporting horses of late years, which if 
continued must make us- shortly dependent on a foreign supply. 
We exported in 

No. Value. 

1872 I2,6l8 .^348,620 

1873 17,822 585,868 

1874 12,039 535»77i 

1875 25,757 980,777 

Russia is essentially the land of horses. Compared with other 
countries in Europe we find that Russia has one horse for every 
three and a half persons, Austria, one for every ten, Prussia and 
Great Britain, one for every eleven,, France, one for every twelve, 
and Italy, one for every twenty-seven. In Russia the greater 
number are to be found in the provinces of Oran and Perm 
(where most of the inhabitants, who are of the Tartar race, have a 
peculiar inclination for horse breeding), in the country of the 
Don Cossacks, where horsemanship is an indispensable part of 
the daily avocations of the people, and in the provinces of Middle 
Russia, which require a great number of horses to carry on their 
extensive trade. 

As far back as the historical accounts of Russia extend, the 
rearing of horses seems always to have formed a notable branch of 
the national industry. The warlike and nomadic habits of the 
ancient population — the increasing demands for the supply of an 
extensive army — the immense distances, requiring a large amount 
of animal labour, as well for the conveyance of produce and mer- 



HOUSES IN RUSSIA. 313 

chandise as for locomotion ; all these combined have stimulated 
the development of this branch of rural economy, favoured as it is, 
over a large portion of the empire by the great extent of pasture 
lands. Accordingly we find the Russians possess excellent horses 
for all uses, and a larger number than all the other European 
States combined. 

The government, true to the traditions of the country, continues 
to devote special attention to the encouragement of horse- 
breeding, for which the steppes of south-eastern Russia afford the 
most favourable opportunity. 

There are no less than twelve imperial studs, of which nine are 
in Europe and three in the Caucasus. There are also fourteen 
government depots and country stables spread over the empire, 
each having from 60 to 150 stallions for public use. There are also 
about 2,500 private studs, which own 6,500 stallions and 69,000 
brood mares. The government encourages by every means in its 
power the improvement in the breeds by sustaining racehorses 
of pure blood and trotting horses, by offering prizes and medals at 
races and exhibitions. There are about 400 horse fairs held an- 
nually, and at fifteen of these from 2,000 to 10,000 horses are 
offered for sale, and some 300,000 change hands. The price of 
horses has advanced of late years in Russia fully 50 to 100 per 
cent. 

The export of horses from Russia is shown by the following 
figures, giving the average number in the last three quinquennial 
periods. 

Total. Annual Average. 

1861 to 1865 51,000 10,000 

1866 to 1870 65,000 i3> 000 

1871 to 1875 , 125,000 25,000 

Taking the mean value fixed in the Russian official docu- 
ments £12, this gives a present annual total of ^300,000. 

In the provinces of Central Asia and Siberia there is almost a 
horse, to every inhabitant, the proportion being 179.3 t0 IO ° m 
the former, 70*1 to 100 in the latter. Next to these stand the 



3 i4 HORSES IN AFRICA AND THE EAST. 

eastern and south-eastern governments. The third place is occu- 
pied by the central governments of European Russia, where horse 
breeding by great landholders, as well as the production of cart- 
horses, is carried on most extensively. 

Russia requires, in time of war, for its army purposes, 272,000 
horses ; Italy, 26,000 ; Turkey, the same number ; Egypt has about 
6,000 mounted troops; Austria, 59,000 cavalry, and as many more 
horses are required for the engineer and artillery service ; China 
has 30,000 Mongolian cavalry; Brazil, 3,000 cavalry. 

Spain stands third in rank among the European States for the 
character of its equine race. Andalusia is the principal district 
for horses. The colts of Cordova are renowned, so are those of 
Galicia and Valencia, while New Castile is famous for its mules, 
and Estramadura for its asses. 

The Indian Government have made the Cape Colony a remount 
station, and have purchased horses largely of late years there. The 
native horse of the Colony would not satisfy the eye of an 
English remount officer, but his endurance during the longest and 
hottest day surpasses that of almost any other horse. The horse is 
small ; is generally brought for inspection in very bad condition, 
and requires a thoroughly honest and good judge of horses to do 
justice to the breeders and dealers, and to protect the Govern- 
ment. There are now more than 200,000 horses in the Cape 
Colony. 

In the Eastern countries beyond Bengal the horse is seldom 
used for draught, and the race is a diminutive one, the ponies 
being only employed for riding now and then. He is but poorly 
fitted for carrying burdens, and useless for the plough, the cart, or 
cavalry purposes. Java, however, possesses a race of very hardy 
ponies, useful for riding or draught, which numbers over 600,000. 

The island of Sumbawa is noted for the number and beauty of 
its small horses, the most esteemed of all the Indian Archipelago, 
and these are largely exported to Java. 

While horses have increased in number in New South Wales 



AUSTRALIAN HORSES. 315 

from 116,397 i n I ^5o to 346,000 in 1875, they nave deteriorated 
in quality. Breeding does not pay because the rules of good 
breeding are neglected so much, that the reputation of Australian 
horses has failed to attract buyers. Were the breed good the 
demand would soon increase more for shipment to India. 

There are splendid horses in the country, but the tendency to 
breed from any sort of mare leads to the production of a wholly 
worthless class of horses, which are commonly sold in the markets 
for a few shillings a head, or boiled down for the grease to lubri- 
cate the carriages they should draw. 

Wild horses, or " brumbies," as they are termed, are so numerous 
in some of the districts that persons are employed exclusively to 
shoot them, who receive a fixed sum besides the hide and hair as 
perquisites. Twenty years ago a settler was offered ,£ioa head 
all round for the horses on his run, which he refused, and now he has 
to pay for shooting them. At one station alone, in the district of 
Goondiwindi, Queensland, over 7,000 wild horses have been shot, 
and yet plenty still remain. 

The Australian horse, although not so large as the English 
horse, is active, muscular, and hardy to a degree. The results 
obtained, even under the present system, are such as to prove 
that the climate and soil of Australia are in the highest degree 
favourable to the breeding and rearing of the horse ; and when 
the time arrives that the breeder can fence extensively without 
fear of removal, it will be seen that Australia can and will produce 
the finest horses in the world. The Indian Government, as well 
as civilians in India, require a supply of horses every year, of the 
very best description the wilds of Australia produce ; not a large, 
overgrown animal, but a stout, compact horse of about 15 hands 
— a wild horse, the result of promiscuous breeding. Such 
are the wild horses of the South American pampas, which are 
among the most enduring in the world ; and such are the wild 
horses of Australia that are now depasturing there in mobs of 
thousands. The drive to the port of shipment tames them, and 



316 HORSES IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

they are easily broken in, and when landed are fit for every 7 
purpose required in India. Horses admirably adapted for the 
Indian market are becoming so numerous in the up-country 
districts, whilst the demand for them is so limited, and the prices 
are so low, that it is found more profitable to shoot them for the 
hair and hides, than to send them to the city for sale. And many 
station-holders view the presence of horses upon their runs as an 
absolute nuisance. The Indian market offers a panacea for the 
ills complained of by breeders of horse stock, and would probably 
return to them a handsome remuneration if the trade were pursued 
with spirit. About 2,600 horses are imported annually into India 
chiefly from Australia. 

After Russia, the United States and the South American 
republics have the largest number of horses. They are so 
numerous in Cordoba and other parts of the State of Buenos 
Ayres, that droves of mares are annually exported to Peru ; the 
breed, especially in the sierras, is small. 

Thirty years ago, all travelling in the country was done on 
horse-back, and although there are now railways traversing the 
country, the natives make light of galloping 100 or even 150 miles 
in a day. When we find that mares are sold to the slaughter- 
houses at a dollar a head, to be killed merely for their hide and 
grease, the rearing of an improved breed for export could not but 
prove remunerative. 

In France it is made a subject of regret that the ancient native 
breeds have disappeared, and the reproach of Buffon holds good, 
" that they have augmented the number and confusion by favour- 
ing the mixture of races, and without reflection have interfered 
with nature, introducing African and Asiatic horses, so that the 
primitive races of France have been lost, and their characteristics 
are scarcely to be distinguished. These characters would be " (he 
observes) " more specially marked, and the differences be more 
sensible, if the races of each climate were kept separate, and 
unchanged by inter-breeding." 



MILITARY DEMANDS FOR HORSES. 317 

In France, including Algeria, the number of horses was, by the 
latest returns, 3,630,000. 

When the peace establishment of the army required 70,000 
saddle horses, France had to import annually from 6,000 to 
7,000 ; that establishment is now raised to 90,000. To pass from 
a peace to a war footing under the new military law demands 
176,000 horses, and a large proportion of them of superior quality 
to what was formerly considered serviceable. There were in 1874 
107,000 horses in the army, and gendarmerie, and republican 
guard. The movements of field artillery are now so much accele- 
rated that many of the draught horses of that arm must come 
from the same class as those for the cavalry. 




Great Britain requires about 40,000 horses for her military 
service, and 5,000 for her Irish mounted police. 

In Germany, for military purposes, 97,000 horses are required 
on the peace footing, and on a war footing 233,500 for field 
troops, 30,500 for depot troops, and 37,000 for garrison purposes. 
Her cavalry requires about 70,000. 

Having glanced at the value of the horse when living, let us 
now consider its commercial products after death. Of late years, 
owing to the high price of butcher's meat on the Continent, there 
has been a large consumption of horse-flesh for human food. 



3i8 



HORSE HIDES. 



After this noble animal has worn out all its powerful energies in 
serving man, it leaves him a carcase from which much can be 
utilised for manufactures and industry.* 

Horse Hides are valuable when tanned, and considerable 
numbers are obtained in Russia and the River Plate States. It 
has already been stated at page 155 that 1,000,000 horse hides are 
tanned annually in Russia. The Mongols and Kirghiz make 
articles of dress of horse leather. Several Tartar tribes are experts 
in leather plaiting, and use a great deal of horse leather for this 
purpose. 

The following figures will give an idea of the export trade in 
horse hides from Buenos Ayres : — 



1853 129,905 

i860 278,613 

1870 102,250 



1872 208,509 

1873 149,482 



In 1870 about 19,000 cwts. of horse hides of the value of 30,000/. 
of British produce were exported. The supply of foreign horse 
hides to this country varies, as will be seen by the following 
figures : — 



1853 171,300 

1854 206,500 

1862 160,186 



1869 98,821 

1870 101,940 

1871 151,123 



The current prices in the London market at the close of 1876 
for horse hides were, for salted hides ioj-. to 15^. each; for dry 
hides js. to 8s. ; tanned hides, Spanish, weighing 6 lbs. to 1 2 lbs. 
i6d. to 24^/. per lb. ; English hides of 10 lbs. to 18 lbs., 13d. to 
i6d. Horse butts about the same. 

Horse Hair. — Though in nearly every country horse hair is 
collected, the chief sources of supply are Germany, the River 



* In the cheap descriptive Catalogue of the Waste Products Collection in 
the Museum, the statistics of the consumption of horse flesh as food, and the 
relative value of the several parts of the dead horse are fully described, as well 
as in my work on " Waste Substances," published by Hardwicke and Bogue. 



OUR SUPPLIES OF HORSE HAIR. 319 

Plate States, Belgium, and Russia, as the following list of the 
imports into the United Kingdom in 1875 will show : — 

cwts. 

Germany 7> 2 99 

Uruguay 4? 935 

Argentine Republic 3>°69 

Belgium 1,55^ 

Australia 906 

Brazil.. 996 

Russia 7°S 

Other Countries 762 

20, 23 1 

We get some good long tail hair from Russia ; other qualities, 
long, medium, and short, from South America, where a quantity 
is obtained from the immense number of horses, which, in a wild 
state, roam over the pampas of that continent. The average 
annual shipments of horse hair from Rio Janeiro in the five years 
ending 1873 were 10,714 cwts. and from the River Plate States 
9,000 cwts. The manes and tails of horses which die in this 
country, form but a small portion of the supply ; the hair thus 
obtained is generally of poor quality, and unfit for use in the 
manufacture of hair cloth. The foreign material is imported in 
bales weighing about 1,000 lbs. each. These contain either 
" mixed hair," that is, hair of different lengths, or else are filled 
entirely with long hair. 

As the material in its raw state is in a tangled and dirty condi- 
tion, the first process through which it passes is sorting, during 
which the different coloured hairs are placed in separate heaps. 
This is to facilitate the subsequent dyeing, as the black stain used 
is much more readily imparted to hair that is naturally of a dark 
colour than to that of the lighter shades. The bundles of sorted 
hair are then hackled, by which process the hairs are made 
straight, and the foreign substances and dirt mingled with them 
removed. During the hackling, great care is taken not to break 
the hair, as upon its length its value depends — long hair being 



3 2o CURLING HORSE HAIR. 

much more scarce than the shorter varieties, and consequently far 
more costly. A number of tufts of hackled hair are next placed 
between the teeth of a couple of cards, or flat pieces of tough 
wood, on which pointed spikes of steel of about three inches in 
length are inserted. One of these cards is placed on its back on 
a table and the bundles of hair laid side by side between its teeth ; 
when this card is full, the other one is placed upon it, points 
down, so that the bundles are firmly held by the double set of 
spikes. The hair it must be remembered, is still of different 
lengths, and it is the object of this carding to arrange the long 
and short hairs in separate bundles. The workman, therefore, 
begins by pulling out from the bundles between the cards, all of 
the long hair in the ends nearest to him, and then keeps on 
removing more and more, until the set of extremities at which he 
is working are perfectly even, no one hair projecting more than 
another. Then he fastens the ends, removes the upper card, 
reverses the bundles, and repeats the same process with the other 
extremities. When he finishes, the hairs between the cards are 
all of exactly the same length, and the separate tufts are now 
ready either to be made into curled hair, to be sold to the brush- 
makers, or to be woven into hair cloth. 

From the bales it is sometimes thrown into a " picker " making 
800 revolutions per minute, and then twisted into ropes by 
machinery, to make it curl. The next process is to boil it, that 
it may be thoroughly cleansed, for which purpose it is put into 
vats, heated with exhausted steam from the engine ; this done, it 
is thoroughly dried in an oven. The ropes of hair are then ready 
to be picked into pieces for use. 

The process of curling is begun by making the lengths of hair 
which are found to be too short for other uses, into a rope. The 
workman, taking a bundle of loose material in his hand, attaches 
it to a revolving hook, and, walking backwards, continually adding 
more hair, spins a long, tight strand. Two of these strands are 
twisted into a cord, which, when finished, is reeled up into large 



HAIR-CLOTH FOR SEATING. 321 

coils. It is then boiled and immediately afterwards baked, this pro- 
cess setting the "kink" in the hairs, and rendering them thoroughly 
elastic. In this condition, curled hair is sold to the trade; it only 
remains to untwist and pick out the rope by hand to obtain the 
desired quantities. 

The short hair is serviceable after curling, for stuffing chair seats, 
cushions, sofas, mattresses, &c. ; the long hair for weaving into 
seating and covering ; and the middle lengths for brush-making in 
lieu of bristles. Light horse hair can be dyed of various colours ; 
but as there is only a limited supply of the pure white, some 
difficulty would arise in obtaining sufficient raw material. 

Hair-cloth, principally used lor covering sofas and chairs, is 
manufactured from the longer and better qualities of hair. The 
bundles of hair destined to be made into cloth are removed to 
the dye-house. There they are attached to a large iron grating, 
which, when filled, is lowered into a vat of boiling dye, in which 
it remains for about five hours. The hair is then detached, and 
is ready for weaving. The warp of the cloth is of black cotton 
thread. Linen thread is a better material, but makes a stiffer and 
harsher fabric, less suited for upholsterers' uses. The hair com- 
poses the weft, and its length depends upon the width of cloth to be 
made, the usual proportion being a thirty-five inch hair to a thirty- 
inch cloth. 

Hair-seating used to be woven by hand, every hair being intro- 
duced singly. It differs in this respect from most other woven 
fabrics, in which there is a uniform and continuous supply of 
material. 

In the Animal Collection, there are some interesting specimens 
of damask hair-cloths.* Among these are fancy green- striped hair 
seating, plain grey satin seating, orange damask figured, scarlet 

* Case 93 contains horse hair of different kinds and qualities, horse hair 
cloth used for bags, sacks and rope made of it, and combed hair for stuffing. 
Case 94, an instructive collection of horse hair, bleached and dyed different 
colours, for making hair-cloth seatings ; also a series showing the process of 
making horse hair gloves and flesh rubbers. 



322 MISCELLANEOUS USES OE HORSE HAIR. 

damask, figured black diaper damask, plain black satin hair, &c. 
In some of these specimens a variety of damask patterns or designs 
are introduced by the application of the Jacquard loom, and also 
a diversity of colours. 

After leaving the loom, the cloth is pressed between hot metal 
plates, and then rubbed to give it the necessary polish. As 
furnished to the trade it is generally black, and its principal use 
is, as already mentioned, for covering furniture. A very fine 
variety is sometimes made for sieves. In price, hair-cloth averages 
about 4-r. per yard. In width, it is manufactured in all sizes 
between fourteen and thirty-two inches. 

Horse hair-cloth originated in England, and in the early part of 
the century M. Bardel received medals for the introduction of the 
manufacture into France. The manufacture is now largely carried 
on in the United States, where upwards of 20,000,000 yards are 
made yearly ; one factory alone makes 600,000 yards annually, no 
hairs less than 16 inches long answer for the purpose. The 
invention of special looms which pick-up and place the hairs 
automatically, has driven out of the market the hand-made 
goods. 

Contrary to the popular idea, the hair is not, as a rule, round. 
A section under the microscope shows a form as though a third of 
a circle had been cut off, and the flat portion slightly indented. 
This conformation caused some difficulties in the manipulation, 
which required great skill and the most delicate machinery to 
overcome. 

Among the various other purposes to which horse hair is applied, 
are, for making ladies stiff petticoats, mixed with cotton, for bags 
for pressing apples, cloth for straining purposes used by brewers, 
oil refiners, &c, for socks or soles for lining boots and shoes. 

Horse hair is used on the helmets of the Horse Guards. It is 
made into ropes and wigs, — even the learned lawyer is obliged to 
rob the poor Siberian horse for his wig. Horse hair shirts were 
formerly worn for the health of the soul, but gloves of the same 



MORSE HAIR IMPORTS.— MULES AND ASSES. 323 

material are now used for the health of the body. False tails of 
horse Hair are made for the use of those horses which are deficient 
in that respect. Fishing lines are occasionally made of horse 
hair. 

A queue, or tail of horse hair, suspended at the end of a pike, 
terminated by a gilded pennant, is the Turkish standard, or 
emblem of authority. Commanders are distinguished by the 
number of horse tails carried before them, or planted in front of 
their tents. Thus the Sultan has seven, the Grand Vizier five, 
and the Pashas three, two, or one. The usage of these tails is of 
Tartaric origin. 

The imports of horse hair into the United Kindom are shown 
in the following return : 



Cwts. Value. 

1862 17,478 £86,199 

1863 15,854 78,813 

1864 17,743 9o>5" 

1865 21,078 106,938 

1866 20,875 113,097 

1867 17,318 100,336 

1868 16,056 102,509 



Cwts. Value. 

1869 19,857 £l52,63I 

1870 14,134 127,145 

1871 21,365 202,103 

1872 15,830 188,726 

1873 19,891 223,393 

1874 19,102 177,782 

1875 20,231 171,053 



Mules are the well-known offspring of the ass and the mare. 
From being very hardy and sure footed they are much employed 
in the West Indies and South America. Peru is noted for the 
finest breed of mules in America. The plains of Caraccas are 
estimated to furnish annually 30,000 for the West India islands. 
There are no precise data as to the numbers, but there are prob- 
ably from one to two millions in the different South American 
States. 

In the two provinces of Catamarco and Tucuman there are 
more than 57,000 mules and asses. At the Atajo mines in the 
former there are 3,500 employed on Mr. Lafone's mines, besides 
large numbers at other mines. 

Mules and asses, especially the former, are not very abundant 
in the United Kingdom. Asses are employed in drawing small 



324 MULES IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. 

carts and in carrying burdens, by hucksters in town and by poor 
people in the country, particularly those near commons, the 
barrenest of which will keep an ass. But it is chiefly in South 
America and the West Indies where mules are used. The im- 
portance of mules in carrying on the traffic of Brazil is evidenced 
by the fact stated some years ago by a well-informed writer, that 
the arrivals of laden mules at Cubatas, near the port of Santos, in 
the province of San Paulo, amounted to 420,000. The introduc- 
tion of railroads in Brazil is doing something to replace them, but 
it is only transferring their services to other quarters. The mules 
annually imported from the cattle farms of Sorocaba in San Paulo, 
into the province of Minas, average 60,000 to 70,000 a year. 
Minas itself rears a considerable number of mules ; those in 
actual service there may be rated at about 260,000 • the number 
that die there annually are from 18,000 to 20,000. Mules con- 
stitute the great commerce of Tucuman. These animals are 
bought in Cordova, Sante Fe, and Buenos Ayres, and being 
fattened during the winter in the valleys and plains of the States 
of the Argentine Confederation, are driven to Peru, where about 
50,000 are sold annually. Many are taken thence to Truxillo, 
Lima, and other places both on the coast and in the interior, for 
sale. In some of the North American States numbers are raised 
at a better profit than horses, from the fact that they come to 
maturity much earlier and command remunerating prices at any 
age. 

In 1783, Washington became convinced of the defective nature 
of the working animals employed in the Southern States, and set 
about remedying the evil by the introduction of mules instead of 
horses, the mules being found to live longer, be less liable to 
disease, require less food, and in every respect to be more valuable 
and economical than the horse in agricultural labour in the 
South. 

In Spain, horses are comparatively little used compared with 
mules and asses. According to the census of 1865 there were in 



MULES IN SPAIN AND MOROCCO, 325 

the Peninsula and the two adjacent provinces about 1,000,000 
mules and 1,300,000 asses, compared with 627,000 horses. The 
mules of the South of Europe are frequently sixteen or seventeen 
hands high. 

Notwithstanding the improved means of transport introduced 
into the country, many troops of mules for carrying burdens are 
kept up in Spain for supplying the towns of the interior. The 
Iberians of Andalusia, the Minglanilla in New Castile, the inha- 
bitants of Segovia and of Maragalirie in Old Castile, and many 
others besides, preserve the old system of transport by mules' 
backs. Various causes contribute to keep up this system. The 
taste of families for the occupation of muleteers, in which they 
have been brought up, and which has been handed down from 
father to son ; the high rates of tolls on roads which the muleteers 
can avoid by short cuts and circuitous routes ; the heavy rates charged 
for goods by railway, and the risk and damage on the transport 
of delicate and fragile goods which are tossed about at stations, con- 
tribute to keep up the old mode. Railways instead of destroying 
the old traffic, have rather augmented it. 

The mules of Morocco excel even those of Spain. Some of 
these, Dr. Leared states, are as large as a full-sized horse. Plod- 
ding, patient, sure-footed and docile, they carry the traveller at 
the rate of four miles an hour through a long day, with few Jialts 
.and little sustenance. The mule in Morocco holds the place of 
the stage coach, or railway train in more advanced countries. 
The price of a mule ranges there between ^"20 and ^"40. 
Mules are beginning to be much used in Central Asia. There 
has of late years been a development of the through traffic from 
the Punjab to Turkestan by mules. A troop of 170 went from 
Jalandhar to Ladak, which at once obtained return freights to 
carry borax to Kulu. They are found to carry heavier weights 
than the camel, and to travel faster. 

Asses. — Persia is famous for its races of asses, of which there are 
three principal varieties, one white and two grey, of different sizes. 



326 STATISTICS OF MULES AND ASSES. 

The former are the most esteemed. The two larger varieties 
attain the height of four and a half feet, and are much finer than 
the wild ass. The smaller grey ass is a very pretty animal from 
the south of Persia. The skin of the ass was formerly used for 
making shagreen and other leather. 



Statistics of Mules 


and Asses : — 




Russia . . . 1874, 


30,000 


Brazil . . (estimate) 


400,000 


Spain . . . 1865, 


2,292,692 


Argentine Republic 1875, 


235,000' 


Portugal . . i860, 


200,000 


Uruguay . .1872, 


120,000 


France . .1872, 


749,754 


Algeria . . .1861, 


310,831 


Austria . . . i860, 


200,000 


Morocco . (estimate) 


i,ooo,ooo> 


Germany . (estimate) 


20,000 


Cape Colony . . 1875, 


29,517 


Holland. . . 1864, 


2,696 


Martinique and 




Ireland . . 1875, 


180,000 


Guadaloupe . 1874, 


7,264 


United States . 1874, 


1,500,000 


Reunion . . 1874, 


9,295 



The Quagga (Eqmis Quaggd) has been tamed. The Hottentots- 
and other natives of South Africa hunt the animal for its flesh. 
Lieut. Moodie, in his " Ten Years in South Africa," says he once 
had a piece of the flesh cooked for his breakfast, grilled and 
peppered, and he did not find it at all unpalatable. It was, he 
adds, certainly better than the horse-flesh which was served to 
him in the hospital at Bergen-op-Zoom in 18 14. Captain Burton, 
in his " Central Africa," tells us that of wild flesh the favourite is 
that of the Zebra (E. Zebra) • it is smoked or jerked, despite 
which it retains a most savoury flavour. 

The Roman peasants found the flesh of the ass palatable, and 
the celebrated Maecenas having tasted it, introduced it to the 
tables of the great and rich, but the fashion of eating it lasted no 
longer than his life. Galen compares the flesh of the ass to that 
of the stag. It is said to be eaten plentifully in the guinguettes of 
Paris, under the denomination of veal. 



328 SPECIES OE ELEPHANTS. 

PACHYDERMATA. 

The Elephant. — There are at present but two existing species 
of this huge pachyderm, and its principal economic product is the 
ivory which it furnishes to commerce. 

Besides these contemporary races of elephants, the market is 
extensively supplied with the ivory derived from the tusks of 
the great mammoth or fossil elephant of the geologist. The 
remains of this gigantic animal are abundantly distributed over 
the whole extent of the globe. They exist in large masses in the 
northern hemisphere, deeply embedded in the alluvial deposits of 
the tertiary period. Humboldt discovered specimens on some of 
the most elevated ridges of the Andes ; and similar remains have 
been found in Africa. In the frozen regions of the far North, 
surrounded by successive layers of everlasting ice, the fossil ivory 
exists in a state of perfect preservation, and it constitutes an 
important article of commerce in the north of Europe. 

A true elephant roamed in countless herds over the temperate 
and northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. This was the 
creature called by the Russians, mammoth \ it was warmly clad 
with both hair and fur, as became an animal deriving its susten- 
ance from the leaves and branches of trees which grow as high as 
the 65th degree of north latitude. 

Formerly the name ivory was given to the main substance of 
the teeth of all animals \ but it is now, by the best anatomists and 
physiologists, restricted to that modification of dentine or tooth- 
substance which, in transverse sections or fractures, shows lines of 
different colours or striae proceeding in the arc of a circle, and 
forming by their decussations minute curvilinear lozenge-shaped 
spaces. By this character, which is presented in even the smallest 
portion of an elephant's tusk in transverse section or fracture, true 
ivory may be distinguished from every other kind of tooth-sub- 
stance, and from every counterfeit, whether derived from tooth or 
bone. This engine-turned decussating appearance is as charac- 



DENTAL TISSUES. 329 

t eristic of fossil as of recent ivory. Although, however, no other 
teeth except those of the elephant present this characteristic of 
true ivory, there are teeth in many other species of animals which, 
from their large size and the density of their principal substance, 




SECTION OF SKULL OF AN ELEPHANT, SHOWING THE DENTITION AND 
A BULLET LODGED IN IT. 

are useful in the arts for purposes analogous to those for which 
true ivory is used; and some of these dental tissues, such as 
those of the large tusks of the hippopotamus, are more serviceable 
for certain purposes than any other kind of tooth-substance. 
The dentition of the genus Elephas, includes two long tusks 



33o IVORY AND TEETH OF ANIMALS. 

(see i in the annexed figure), one in each of the premaxillary 
bones, and large and complex molars (m 3, m 5, m 4) in both 
jaws : of the latter there is never more than one wholly, or 
two partially, in place and use on each side at any given time,, 
the series continually being in progress of formation and destruc- 
tion, of shedding and replacement; and, in the elephants, all 
the grinders succeed one another, horizontally, from behind 
forwards. 

In a lecture by Prof. Owen delivered before the Society of 
Arts, in Dec, 1856, "On the Ivory and Teeth of Commerce," 
from which I quote, he remarks that the utility of teeth in com- 
merce and the arts depends chiefly on a peculiar modification in 
their laws of growth. For the most part, teeth — as in our own 
frames — having attained a certain size and shape, cease to grow. 
They are incapable of renewing the waste to which they are 
liable through daily use, and when worn away or affected by 
decay, they perish. Certain teeth in man and the majority of the 
mammalia, are succeeded by a new tooth after the old one is worn 
away and shed, but this with very few exceptions, occurs but once 
in the course of life. Teeth of this kind are said to be of limited 
growth, but there are other teeth, such as the front teeth of the 
rat, rabbit, and all the rodent tribe, the tusks of the boar and 
hippopotamus, the long descending canine tusks of the walrus, 
the still longer spiral horn-like tusk of the narwhal, and the ivory 
tusks of the elephant, which are endowed with the property of 
perpetual growth, that is, they grow as long as the animal lives. 

The molar teeth of the elephant are of little value. They 
have been attempted to be utilised for making knife handles, but 
owing to the larger proportion of cement to dentine they are 
brittle : small slabs are sometimes sliced out of them. It will be 
seen by the appended illustrations that there is a striking differ- 
ence in the enamel plates of the molars of the African and 
Asiatic elephants : in the former the lamellar divisions of the 
crown are fewer and thicker, and they expand more uniformly 



THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 



33* 



from the margin to the centre, yielding a lozenge-form when cut 
or worn transversely, as in mastication. 




UPPER MOLAR TOOTH OF INDIAN ELEPHANT {ElepllCLS Indicus), SHOWING 
TRANSVERSE ARRANGEMENT OF THE ENAMEL PLATES (dd), ANI> 
FESTOONING OF THEIR BORDERS {ee). 




UPPER MOLAR TOOTH OF AFRICAN ELEPHANT {ElephctS Africanus) y 
SHOWING THE LOZENGE-SHAPED ARRANGEMENT OF THE ENAMEL 
PLATES OR RIDGES. 

The African Elephant is much larger than that of Asia ; 
sixteen feet is not an uncommon height, and many are killed 
of even superior proportions. 

The distinction between the African and Indian elephants is 
clearly defined by Dr. Livingstone. " The first elephant (he says) 
killed by my man was a male, not full grown j his height at the 
withers was 8 feet 4 inches ; and the circumference of his fore 
foot 44 inches. The female, which was full grown, measured in 
height 8 feet 8 inches, the circumference of the fore foot being 48 
inches. These details are given with the view of showing that the 
general rule, that twice the circumference of the fore foot equals 



33* 



AFRICAN IVORY. 



the height of the animal is not of universal application ; for in the 
first instance, double the circumference falls short of the height by 
twelve inches, and in the second instance by eight inches. Subse- 
quent observations, however, proved the general correctness of the 
rule with regard to full-grown animals. 

" The greater size of the African elephant in the south would 
.at once distinguish it from the Indian one; but here they approach 
more nearly to each other in bulk, a female being about as large 
.as a common Indian male. But the ear of the African is an ex- 
ternal mark which no one will mistake even in a picture. That 
of the female now killed was 4 feet 5 inches in depth, and 4 feet 
in horizontal breadth, and I have seen a native creep under one 
•so as to be quite covered by it. The ear of the Indian variety is 
not more than a third of this size." Livingstone adds that although 
there was more abundant food he found the animals of all kinds 
in the districts north of 20 , smaller than the same races existing 
southward of that latitude. 

The full-grown male elephants on the river Zouga, seemed no 
larger than the females on the Lempopo, while they were even 
smaller than on the Zouga. There is, however, an increase in the 
size of the tusks as we approach the equator. 

It would seem from old Roman imperial medals extant, that in 
early centuries of the Christian era the African elephant was 
tamed; although no attempt has been made to subjugate this 
most useful animal at the Cape. 

African Ivory. — The finest transparent ivory is collected prin- 
cipally along the western coast of Africa, within io° north and 
south of the* equator, and it is considered to become worse in 
quality and more liable to be found damaged with the increase of 
latitude in either direction. The best white ivory is for the most 
part the produce of the eastern coast of Africa generally. The 
African ivory in the best condition, should appear, when recently 
cut, of a mellow, warm, transparent tint, almost as if soaked in oil, 
and with little appearance of grain or fibre. In this state it is 



iV '} 



il 



HI 



i 



§ 



lif 



334 



LARGE IVORY TUSKS. 



termed " transparent n or " green " ivory. But on exposure, the 
transparency to a certain extent goes off, and the ivory is left of a 
delicate white hue, which should be permanently retained. 

Among large African tusks may be enumerated a pair weighing 
325 lbs., each measuring 8 ft. 6 in. in length, and 22 inches in 
basal circumference; and one weighing no lbs. from South 
Africa, which was shown by Mr. Joseph Cawood, of Graham's 
Town, at the Great Exhibition in 185 1 ; one weighing 139 lbs., 
shown by Messrs. Fauntleroy, and one weighing 103 lbs., shown 
by Messrs. Buchanan and Law at the same Exhibition. Some 




very large tusks were also shown at the London Exhibition in 
1862. Mr. Gordon Cumming had one weighing 173 lbs. A 
tusk was shipped from Camaroon to Liverpool, some years ago, 
weighing 164 lbs.; and another to Bristol weighing 147 lbs. 
Captain R. Burton, writing on the ivory-trade of Zanzibar, states 
that the tusks are larger there than elsewhere. At Mozambique, 
for instance, 60 lbs. would be a good average for a lot. At 
Zanzibar, a lot of 47 averaged 95 lbs. ; 80 lbs. is considered a 
moderate average, and 70 to 75 lbs. poor. Monster tusks are 
spoken of. Specimens of 175 lbs. are not very rare, and the 
people have traditions that these wonderful armatures have ex- 
tended to 227 lbs., and even to 280 lbs. each, approximating in 
size to the huge fossil tusks occasionally met with in the northern 
regions. Cuvier made a list of the largest tusks found up to his 
time, and the most considerable one registered by him weighed 
350 lbs. At a sale of tusks in London, the largest brought from 
Bombay and Zanzibar weighed 122 lbs. Those from Angola 
averaged 69 lbs., from the Cape and Natal 106 lbs., from Lagos 



OUR SUPPLIES OF AFRICAN IVORY. 335 



1 14 lbs., and from Gaboon 91 lbs. But these are by no means the 
largest sizes to be found at present ; for elephant-hunters now pene- 
trate further into Africa, and therefore meet with older animals. 

In former years, before European commerce had extended far 
into the interior of Africa, many of the native chiefs surrounded 
their dwellings with palisades of elephants' tusks, but now that 
their intrinsic value has become well known, they have been 
bartered away for more appreciated objects. Some of the natives 
often spoil their tusks by cutting them. The Gold Coast ivory 
may generally be known by having a rough-hewn hole made near 
the end of the hollow. Some tribes stain the exterior by sticking 
the tooth in the sooty rafters of their chimneyless huts, with the 
idea that so treated it will not crack or split in the sun. 

The following statement will serve to show the localities from 
whence our supplies of African ivory have been received of late 
years, given in cwts. 



Portuguese Possessions 

West Africa, not designated . . . 

Gold Coast 

South Africa 

East Coast 

Egypt. 

Tripoli and Tunis 



1870. 


1871. 


1872. 


1873. 


1874. 


1875. 


410 


417 


395 


449 


387 


312 


1322 


1966 


2081 


2465 


1958 


2297 






131 


78 


102 


251 


1 185 


1 109 


1019 


1117 


IS48 


1442 




823 


45o 


69 


303 


696 


4521 


5242 


4932 


4628 


2297 
141 


241 1 
400 



Some African ivory also comes in through Malta and Portugal. 

The quality of the African ivory varies considerably. That 
best adapted for the English market comes from the Camaroon 
coast, and the most esteemed runs from 50 lbs. weight upwards, 
the next in value 35 lbs. to 50 lbs., then from 18 lbs. to 35 lbs. 
Tusks are valued in proportion to their size ; those that weigh 1 
cwt. or more are the best, and fetch from ^40 to ^50 the cwt. ; 
the second class comprehends such as require two teeth to make 
a cwt. or more ; the third class, three or more to the cwt. All 
below 18 lbs. are called " scrivelloes," and are of the least value, 
except such as are adapted for cutting billiard balls. 



3$6 



IVORY EXPORTS FROM NATAL. 



Gaboon, Loando, Congo, and Ambriz, rank next to the Cama- 
roons in the quality of the ivory shipped. 

The Gold Coast ivory, and that brought down for shipment to 
Sierra Leone and Cape Coast Castle, ranks next, and is tolerably 
good. Gambia teeth are usually very bad, always broken, very 
crooked, cracked in the hollows, and more or less damaged. 

The Gold Coast ivory may generally be known by having a 
rough hewn hole made near the end of the hollow, and these teeth 
(the term under which they pass in commerce) are much esteemed. 

Fine ivory is known by having no cracks or flaws, either in the 
solid or in the hollow. Cracks in the ivory are a serious detri- 
ment, and must be always particularly noticed. The elephants' 
tusks that are only rather tapering in shape are most liked ; very 
crooked teeth must be guarded against, as they cut up to great 
disadvantage. Broken-pointed teeth, or those with deep flaws, or 
otherwise damaged about the point, must be avoided. Teeth 
with large hollows are not at all liked, as there must inevitably be 
a great waste in cutting them up ; in short, a fine tooth is known 
by being of a neat tapering shape, with but a small hollow, free 
from cracks, with a fine, thin, clear coat, free from flaws ; it is 
also transparent, which may be discovered by holding the point 
to a candle. 

Quantity and value of the ivory exported from Natal : 



lbs. £ 

1850 49,481 9,200 

1851 40,917 7,989 

1852 31,542 6,274 

1853 25,672 8,634 

1854 64,209 14,686 

1855 55,567 13,504 

1856 58,450 13,716 

1857 68,273 18,170 

'858 117,663 31,754 

1859 67,255 17,618 

i860 73,695 21,064 

1861 75,545 22,825 

1862 10,116 27,059 



lbs. £ 

....183,014 40,736 

•••■125,874 26,254 

••■• 79,395 19,154 

.... 29,218 6,673 

.... 21,618 5,908 

■■■• 34,ooo 9,169 

• ••• 39,59o 11,326 

•■•• 50,038 14,350 

•••• 5i,597 13,220 

• ••• 36,052 9,392 

• •• 48,986 17,199 

■••• 27,678 9,036 

— Stat. Abstract, Colonia' Possessions. 



1863. 
1864. 
1865. 
1866. 
1S67. 
1868. 
1869. 
1870. 
1871. 
1872. 

1873- 
1874. 



AFRICAN IVORY.— ASIATIC ELEPHANTS. 337 

Quantities and values of exports of ivory from the Cape 
Colony : 



lbs. £ 

i857 57,757 16,358 

1858 92,944 21,903 

1859 30,362 8,398 

i860 63, 323 16, 826 

1861 58,330 14,731 

1862 H3,379 24,813 

1863 53,226 10,773 

1864 26,013 4,488 

1865 30,241 10,486 



lbs. £ 

1866 40,969 10,114 

1867 61,514 11,018 

1868 36,669 8,772 

1869 55,155 !3,482 

1 870 60, 41 9 1 4, 546 

1871 46,382 11,566 

1872 88,203 24,176 

1873 91,457 32,613 

1874 73,747 26,667 



The Asiatic Elephant. — The elephant is still found in the 
east and north of the island of Ceylon in very large numbers. A 
good many are killed annually by sportsmen. The late Major 
Rogers, of sporting notoriety, is known to have killed in that 
island upwards of 1,000 with his own rifle ; 1,600 were captured by 
being snared, or enclosed in kraals, and exported to India from 
the northern province in the five years ending 1862. When 
tamed and used as a beast of burden, it is quite surprising what 
he can be made to do, and the intelligence and docility he 
displays — his cunning, strength, and endurance are well known. 
He is often employed by the Public Works Department on the 
roads and bridges, and is found a valuable and frequently indis- 
pensable auxiliary. He will roll over large stones, place them in 
position as directed, arrange them in twos with the skill of a mason, 
or level a beam with the eye of a builder. In matters of mere 
brute strength they find him almost equally useful. They have 
large waggons made expressly for him. When suitably harnessed 
he is made to draw immense loads. The cut on the next page 
represents an elephant at work in a timber yard at Moulmein. 

Elephants exist in large troops in the forests of Siam, and are 
caught by the aid of domesticated females, who entice them into 
ambushes or snares prepared beforehand. They are soon tamed, 
and when domesticated render great services to their owners. 
The ivory of Siam is much sought after for its quality and its 



333 



ASIATIC ELEPHANTS. 



density, being considered superior to that obtained from parts of 
India. A fine tusk of a Siamese elephant was shown at the 
London Exhibition of 185 1 that weighed 100 lbs., the ivory of 
which was very white and compact. 




INDIAN ELEPHANT EMPLOYED IN A TIMBER YARD, MOULMEIN. 

In some " Notes on Northern Cachar," by Lieut. R. Stewart in 
a number of the Bengal Asiatic Society some information is given 
as to the capture of elephants by the natives : — 

" Elephants are slain in great numbers by the Kookies 
wherever they are to be had, not only the tusks but the flesh 
being highly prized. Parties of twenty and upwards go out in 
pursuit of them at a time. When some recent elephant track is 



INDIAN IVORY. 339 

discovered in the forest, two or three of the party ascend some 
convenient tree, whose branches overhang the track, the re- 
mainder follow it up, and having got on the other side of the 
herd, scare it towards the ambush by shouting, beating gongs, and 
discharging fire-arms. Here, while passing, the animals are 
assailed from above with long spears having huge iron bars 
covered with deadly poison ; every wound inflicted results in the 
death of the animal at not more than half a mile from the spot 
on which he was hit. So wary are the elephants, however, that 
it is seldom more than two out of a herd are killed. At the 
place where their game is found dead they commence cutting him 
up, and extract his tusks ; laden with these and as much of the 
flesh as they can carry, they return home, and other parties go 
out and encamp in the neighbourhood of the carcase until they 
have entirely consumed it or are driven away by the effluvia of 
decomposition. Portions of the flesh that they cannot imme- 
diately eat, are dried and smoked to be kept for future con- 
sumption." 

The ivory from India is of a more opaque or dead white, but 
has a tendency to turn yellow or discoloured. The teeth from 
Ceylon and Singapore are distinguished by their fine grain, 
pearly blush colour, and small size. 

In the Asiatic elephants, tusks of a size which make them 
valuable as ivory in commerce are peculiar to the males, while 
in the African elephants, both males and females afford good 
size tusks. Tusks weighing 150 lbs. have been occasionally 
exported from Pegu and Cochin China. 

Several specimens of fine ivory were exhibited at the local 
show Madras in 1854. The largest tusks sent were a pair 
weighing 138 pounds, obtained from a wild elephant killed in 
the Travancore forests. One tusk weighed 7 1 pounds, the other 
67 pounds, and showed a fine white compact kind of ivory; of 
these two, one measured six feet eight inches and the other six feet 
six inches, the circumference being seventeen inches in each case. 



34° 



IMPORTS OF ASIATIC IVORY. 



It is a singular fact that the domestication of the elephant is 
usually attended by deterioration of the length and quality of 
the ivory. 

Quantity and value of imports of Asiatic ivory into the United 
Kingdom from British India and Aden : 



1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 

1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 

1859 
i860 
1861 
1862 



Cwts. 
.4,058.. 
•3,440.. 
• 2,580.. 
•4,425 •• 
•3,123-. 
.3,166.. 

2,748.. 



£ 



• •-• 80,733 
.... 68,874 

•4,781 170,523 

•3,232 138,653 

.5,096 170,860 

•2,254 70,409 

.2,849 87,118 

•4,339 116,188 

.3,428 78,010 



1863 .. 

1864 .. 

1865 .. 

1866 .. 

1867 .. 

1868 . 

1869 .. 

1870 . 

1871 . 

1872 . 

1873 • 

1874 • 

1875 • 



Cwts. £ 

.2,520 70,013 

.2,620 82,549 

■ 2,058 65,913 

•i,5i5 56,855 

• 493 I7,8i4 

80 2,741 

■ 132 4,717 

• 221 7,933 

• 399 11,966 

• 244.... 8,059 

.1,201 58,082 

• 3,942 193,299 

•3,56o 171,227 



Value of the ivory and ivory-ware exported from India for a 
series, of years : 



1849 70,828 

1850 56,718 

1851 43,086 

1852 90,140 

1853 55,886 

1854 80,895 

1855 66,921 

1856 82,384 

1857 128,096 



£ 1 
1858 19,805 1 1867 



1859 98,157 

i860 97,126 

1861 33,039 

1862 120,367 

1863 60,260 

1864 80,398 

1865 77,217 

1866 92,402 



£ 
85,008 

64,575 
122,520' 



1868 

1869 

1870 108,289 

1871 83,003 

1872 61,91s 

1873 104,869 

1874 127,404 

1875 89,640 



In the last named year the exports were from Bengal ^1,843, 
from British Burmah ^2,23 1, and the remainder from Madras 
and Sind. 

As illustrations there are in the Animal Products Collection a 
fine small elephant's skull with tusks ; nine large ivory tusks, one 
weighing 94 lbs., and many small ones, samples of mammoth 



THE IVORY TRADE. 



341. 



ivory, and diseased ivory, ivory anklets and numerous manufac- 
turing applications of ivory, with elephants' bones from Siam. 

The Ivory Trade. — The supply of ivory seems to increase 
rather than to diminish. In 1827 we only received 3,000 cwt. 
Taking the imports in round numbers, in 1840 they were nearly 




SIAMESE WAR ELEPHANT. 



5,500 cwt. ; in 1850, 9,400 cwt. ; in i860 nearly 10,000 cwt.; in 
1870, 12,600 and in 1875, * 6,258 cwt. The total quantity of 
ivory imported into the United Kingdom in the quarter of a 
century ending with 1875 was 267,924 cwt. There is a small 
quantity of other ivory than elephants' tusks mixed up with this, 
but it is comparatively unimportant, and it would probably not 
amount to 8,000 cwt. in the whole period. Now averaging the 



342 



OUR IMPORTS OF IVORY. 



tusks received at only 26 lbs. each, nearly 21,000 elephants 
must have been slaughtered annually, exclusive of what was 
shipped elsewhere, or used locally, and supposing some tusks were 
cast, some animals died a natural death, and some portion was 
fossil ivory, at least 20,000 elephants annually will be within the 
mark. 

Quantities and value of the ivory imported into the United 
Kingdom : 



1840 
1841 
1842 

1843 
1844 

1845 



Cwt. 

5.469 
5,8n 
6,429 
5,462 

5, 22 9 
6,402 



1846 5,394 



1847 
1848 

1849 
1850 
1851 



6,477 
5,H6 
7,457 
9,396 
6,356 



1852 9,5i5 

1853 10,388 

i854 

1855 -. 

1856 .... 

1857 .... 



9,299 230,420 

8,376 219,964 

9,866 343,517 

9,890 421,318 



1858 
1859 
i860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 

1873 
1874 

1875 



Cwt. £ 

12,279 410,608 

10,821 336,H7 

10,854 332,166 

11,163 297,491 

11,605 262,962 

9,290 256,059 

",497 361,384 

10,268 322,286 

11,982 445,335 

10,343 360,520 

9,909 337,403 

14,599 5o7,3i9 

12,590 439,839 

12,797 341,205 

11,229 348,693 

13,385 506,629 

13,365 576,915 

16,258 772,371 



From the following statement of the exports of ivory, it will be 
seen that we retain and use up about half the quantity imported. 

Quantities and value of the ivory re-exported from the United 
Kingdom : 



1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 



Cwt. £ 

5,927 202,901 

5,837 207,505 

4,039 144,192 

7,5 T 9 196,005 



1872 

1873 
1874 
1875 



Cwt. £ 

7,703 290,960 

5,228 238,548 

7,93° 366,920 

7,546 399,H9 



Extinct Elephants. — The tusks of the extinct Elephas primi- 
gejiius, or mammoth, have a bolder and more extensive curvature 
than those of the Elephas indicus. Some have been found which 



EXTINCT ELEPHANTS. 



343 



describe a circle, but the curve being oblique they thus clear the 
head, and point outwards, downwards, and backwards. The 
numerous fossil tusks of the mammoth which have been dis- 
covered and recorded, may be ranged under two averages of size — 
the larger ones at nine feet and a-half, the smaller at five feet and 
a-half in length. Professor Owen, in his " History of British 




HEAD OF INDIAN ELEPHANT. 



Fossil Mammals," vol. viii. p. 247, has assigned reasons for the 
probability of the latter belonging to the female mammoth, which 
must accordingly have differed from the existing elephant of 
India, and have more resembled that of Africa in the development 
of her tusks ; yet manifesting an intermediate character by their 
smaller size. 

In the account of the mammoth bones and teeth of Siberia, 



344 FOSSIL IVORY. 

published in the " Philosophical Transactions " for 1737 (No. 446), 
tusks are cited which weighed 200 lbs. each, " used as ivory to 
make combs, boxes, and such other things ; being a little more 
brittle, and easily turning yellow by weather and heat." From 
that time to the present, there has been little intermission in 
the supply of ivory furnished by the tusks of the extinct elephant 
of a former world. 

This fossil ivory formed one of the earliest articles of export 
from Siberia to China. About 20,000 lbs. of it (that is to say, 
the tusks of at least 100 mammoth-elephants), are bartered every 
year in New Siberia, so that in a period of 200 years of trade 
with that country, the tusks of 20,000 mammoths must have been 
disposed of — perhaps even twice that number, since only 200 lbs. 
of ivory are calculated as the average weight produced by a pair 
of these tusks. As many as ten of these tusks have been found 
lying together in the Tundra, weighing from 150 to 300 lbs. each. 
The largest are rarely seen out of the country, many of them 
being too rotten to be made use of ; while others are so large 
that they cannot be carried away, and are sawn up into blocks 
or slabs on the spot where they are found, with very considerable 
waste, so that the loss of weight in the produce of a tusk before 
the ivory comes to market is of no trifling amount. A large 
portion of this ivory is used by the nomad tribes in their sledges, 
arms, and household implements, and formerly a great quantity 
used to be exported to China ■ a trade which can be traced back 
to a very distant period, for Giovanni de Piano Caspini, a 
Franciscan monk sent by Pope Innocent IV. in 1246 into 
Tartary, describes a magnificent throne of carved ivory, richly 
ornamented with gold and precious stones, belonging to the 
Tartar Khan of the Golden Horde, the work of a Russian 
jeweller, the slabs of which were so large that they could only 
have been cut out of great mammoth tusks. 

Notwithstanding the enormous amount already carried away, 
the stores of fossil-ivory do not appear to diminish; in many 



EXTINC1 MAMMOTHS. 345 

places, near the mouths of the great rivers flowing into the Arctic 
Ocean, the bones and tusks of these antediluvian pachyderms lie 
scattered about like the relics of a plough ed-up battle-field j while 
in other parts these creatures of a former world seem to have 
huddled together in herds for protection against the sudden 
destruction that befell them, since their remains are found lying 
together in heaps. In 182 1, a hunter from Yakutsk, on the Lena, 
found in the New Siberia Islands alone, 500 poods (18,000 lbs.) 
of mammoth tusks, none of which weighed more than 3 poods ; 
and this notwithstanding that another hunter on a previous visit 
in 1809, had brought away with him 250 poods of ivory from the 
same islands. The inhabitants on the mainland, pile up in heaps 
the tusks which are found scattered about on the Tundra, and 
convey them in large boats up the Lena. In the period from 
1825 to 183 1, at least 1,500 poods of $6 lbs. each reached Yakutsk 
yearly. The trade in fossil-ivory at Turuchansk, on the Jenissee, 
has for many years past amounted to from 80 to 100 poods annually, 
and that of Obidorsk, on the river Obi, to from 75 to 100 poods. 

Entire mammoths have occasionally been discovered not only 
with the skin (which was protected with a double covering of hair 
and wool) entire, but with the fleshy portions of the body in such 
a state of preservation, that they have afforded food to dogs and 
wild beasts in the neighbourhood of the places where they were 
found. They appear to have been suddenly enveloped in ice, or 
to have sunk into mud when on the point of congealing, and 
which before the process of decay could commence, froze around 
the bodies, and has preserved them up to the present time in the 
condition in which they perished. It is thus they are occasionally 
found when a landslip occurs in the frozen soil of the Siberian 
coast, which never thaws, even during the greatest heat of the 
summer, to a depth of more than two feet, and in this way, within 
a period of a century and a half, five or six of these curious 
corpses have come to light from their icy graves. 

A very perfect specimen of the mammoth in this state was 



346 ECONOMIC USES OF IVORY. 

discovered in the autumn of 1865, near the mouth of the Jenissee. 
An expedition was dispatched to the spot by the Imperial 
Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, in the summer of 1866, 
and the result of that expedition was the disclosure of some 
interesting facts in the natural history of a former creation.* 

Half-a-ton of this mammoth ivory was sold at the second series 
of ivory sales in London in May 1876, and realised from ^22 to 
^43 per cwt. 

Recent examinations on the Yukon river in Alaska, establish the 
fact that the fossil-remains of the elephant are even more plentiful 
on the west than on the east side of the North Pacific. A supply 
of ivory sufficient to last the world for years has thus been met 
with. 

Ivory is occasionally used now for binding books, but it was 
often used in older times to preserve valuable missals, &c. 
There is a carved ivory book-cover of the nth century in the 
Museum at Berlin. There is also an elaborate carved one of the 
same period in the Imperial library at Paris. At Milan is 
another carved ivory binding to a copy of the Gospels said to be 
even earlier, f 

The scrivelloes or small tusks of the elephant, have been occa- 
sionally applied to fanciful ornamental uses by the taste and 
design of experienced naturalists. Such an instance is afforded 
in the cut given on the opposite page of ivory tusks mounted for 
the frame-work of a mirror. 

Not much use is made in commerce of the elephant's skin. It 
has been occasionally tanned as a matter of curiosity. Riding 
whips of bleached elephant hide were made for the Duke of 

* Mr. Lumley's Consular Report on Russia, 1867. 

+ Cases 171 and 172 contain various applications of ivory, sections of mam- 
moth ivory, sections showing diseased ivory, Chinese carvings, chessmen, 
draughtsmen, turned balls, fans, &c. ; Indian ivory inlaid-work, knife-handles, 
tablets, brush-backs, combs, hand-mirrors, and other objects of European 
turnery work, and handles of knives made from the molar teeth of the 
elephant. 



FLESH AND HIDE OF THE ELEPHANT. 347 

Edinburgh, which had a resemblance to transparent horn. The 
stout bristly hair on the elephant's tail is made into rings, bracelets, 
and other female ornaments for the natives of India. 

In Bruce's " Travels," it is stated, " The Abyssinians cut the 
whole of the flesh off the bones of the elephant into thongs, like 
the reins of a bridle, and hang these like festoons upon the 
branches of trees till they become perfectly dry, without salt, and 




ORNAMENTAL APPLICATION OF SCRIVELLOES OR SMALL TUSKS. 



then they lay them up for their provisions in the season of the 
rains." Sparmann saw the flesh dried in a similar manner by 
the Hottentots and the Boshjesman race. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PACHYDERMS, OR THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS, AND THEIR 

PRODUCTS. 

.Swine — Great value of the pig — Various breeds — Our foreign imports 
of pigs, bacon, hams, and pork — Extent of pig-breeding in the 
United States — Vast export products — Immense slaughter-houses 
— Pigs in Russia — Pork as food — Trade in lai'd and lard-oil — 
Hogskins — Bristles — Our import trade — Russia the chief source 
of supply — Statistics of Swine in various countries — Peccaries or 
wild hogs — Tapir — Rhinoceros — Use of its hide and horn — Hippo- 
potamus — Its hide, flesh, and teeth. 

Swine. — The pig is, of all domestic animals, that which has 
been most modified. The discoloration of the skin, the lessening 
■of the hair on it, the aptitude for rapid growth and fattening, are 
the results of a system of permanent confinement and rich and 
abundant food to which the animal has been submitted for many 
centuries. It is killed at from one to two years, according as 
there is sufficient food to supply it. After three years the flesh 
becomes hard, and the animal gains little in size. According to 
.age, race, and degree of fatness, the pig when killed may weigh from 
1 60 to 600 lbs., or more in some improved breeds. It is the 
animal in which there is the least waste between the dead and 
living weight, nearly all the carcase being utilised, the blood, the 
skin, the head, and most of the entrails, which are useless in other 
animals, serving as food. In highly fattened pigs, the fat consti- 
tutes about 27 per cent, of the weight of the animal. The 
extent and variety of the commercial products of the hog are 
perhaps unsurpassed by any other domestic animal. 

His fat is an article in the form of lard, extensively used in 
cookery, perfumery, and medicine ; his flesh is prepared for food, 



PRODUCTS OF THE PIG. 

either fresh, pickled, as salted pork, dried and smoked bacon; as 
hams and shoulders usually smoked ; the head and collar is made 
into brawn ; the intestines are used as coverings for sausages ; the 
skin or hide is the most general cover for saddles, and is made 
into shoes and pocket-books ; the bladder finds use for excluding 
air from jars or other vessels, for holding lard, &c. ; the bristles 
are extensively used for tooth-brushes, and for brushes of all 
shapes and purposes ; in short no part of the hog is useless. The 
very hoofs make jelly or glue, and when to this is added the fact, 
that his flesh when fresh, is very digestible and nutritious, it forms 
a catalogue of useful products, not yielded by any other animal. 

Exclusive of our home produce, the foreign supply of pigs and 
their products in 1875 were as follows : — 

Value. £ 

Live pigs, No. 72, 170 255,076 

Bacon and Hams cwts. 2,638,875 6,982,470 

Bristles lbs. 2,558,996 419,203 

Lard cwts. 540,244 1,634,769 

Tork ,, 266,663 590,356 



,£9,881,874 

Besides probably some prepared pig-skins not enumerated. 

The enormous increase in the consumption of foreign bacon 
and hams is worth special notice. The imports have been as 
follows : — 

Eacon and Hams. Pork, 

cwt. cwt. 

1840 6,l8l 29,532 

I850 35 2 ,46l 211,254 

1S60 326,106 173,325 

1870 567,164 257,014 

1875 2,638,875 266,663 

The varieties of the pig are very numerous, and are increased 
daily, arising from crossing of breeds, food, climate, care, &c. 
No animal is so extensively diffused over the globe, or increases so 
rapidly. Marshal Vauban calculated that the produce of a single 
sow in ten years, assuming six pigs at a litter, and excluding the 
males, would increase to 6,434,130 pigs, or as many as any of the 



350 



VARIETIES 0E SWINE. 



chief European States could support. If this calculation were 
carried on to the twelfth generation, we should find they would 
people all Europe, and by the sixteenth cover the entire globe. 




THE OLD ENGLISH BREED OF HOG. 



The Berkshire has long been regarded as one of the superior 
breeds of England, combining size with a sufficient aptitude to 



^ r> **r3gs^ 




THE BERKSHIRE. 



fatten, and being well fitted for pork and bacon. It has been 
regarded also as the hardiest of the more improved races. 

The extremes of domestic swine are the English prize-pig at 
the one end, and the pig whose domestic hearth is in the hut of 



VARIETIES OF SWINE. 



35i 



die Finn, all the way from St. Petersburg to Archangel, on the 
other. This latter is a meagre bony animal only useful for his 
bristles and his skin. 

On most parts of the Continent English pigs have been 
introduced and become thoroughly appreciated. The different 
breeds of the numerous English races are now distinguished 
into black and white, and these again subdivided into large, 
medium and small. 

The wild boars of Barbary, Bengal and Scinde, are much 
finer animals than those which endure the severity of a northern 
winter in the forests of Germany or Russia. 

Nature made the pig an animal of great activity and spirit. 
Man, in the due exercise of the power which has been conferred 
on him of moulding nature to his own convenience, has made 
him a creature of flitches and hams. This transforming power 




SMALL BREED WHITE PIG, SHOWN AT BEDFORD.* 



has been exercised rather wantonly, for of all the loaded animals 

which deform our cattle-shows none so outrage delicacy as the im 

proved pig. Unless his legs shrink under the weight of his shape- 

* From the Agricultural Gazette. 



35 2 



TRADE IN PORK IN AMERICA. 



less carcase ; unless his belly trails on the ground ; and unless his 
eyes are quite closed up by fat, he has no chance of a prize. 

North America is the land where breeding swine has been carried 
out to the greatest extent. The vastness of the capital engaged 
in pig-raising in the United States, may be estimated from the 
fact that there were assumed to be, in 1873, 33,630,050 swine, 
valued at ^26,750,000 ; and the business is fast increasing. 

The total product of pork and bacon was : — 

lbs. 

4,484,273,334 

Consumed by the population 3,608,023,535 

Surplus for sale 876,249,799 

Products of the hog exported 503, 029, 32 1 



Leaving a surplus unutilised of 3 73, 220, 478 

Among the principal breeds kept are the Suffolk and Chester 
whites, and the Essex and Berkshire black. 

To give an idea of the progression of this trade, I append the 
exports from the United States for a series of years. 





Hogs. Pork. 
No. Barrels. 


Bacon and Hams, 
lbs. 


Lard, 
lbs. 


1820-21 
1830-31 
1840-41 
1850-51 


7,885 

14,690 

7,901 

1,030 


66,647 

51,263 

133,290 

165,206 


1,607,506 

1,477,446 

2,794,517 

18,027,302 


3,996,561 
6,963,516 

10,597,654 
19,683,082 



Shipments of pork from the United States in the last few years 



1870-1 39,250,750 

1871-2 57,169,518 

1872-3 64,147,461 

1873^4 70,480,384 

1874-5 55.152,208 

The exports of pork from the port of New York were in 

lbs. 

1872 158,194 

1873 197,445 

1874 178,070 



PRODUCTS OF THE PIG. 353 

The bacon and hams exported include also a small quantity 
of beef. It was stated to be in 

lbs. 

1872-3 426,986,933 

1873-4 373,441,856 

1874-5 298,524,240 

It is not so very many years ago that the trade in the products 
of the hog was commenced on a small scale by a few bold 
speculators in Cincinnati. Selecting the hams and sides of the 
animal, they made pickled pork; of the*rest they took small 
account. Soon, however, the idea occurred to one more acute 
than his fellows, that the heads and the feet — nay, even the spine 
and the vertebrae might be turned to account. Trotters and 
cheeks had their partizans, and these parts looked up in the 
market. About this time the makers of sausages caught the 
inspiration ; they found these luxuries saleable ; and so many pigs 
were to be slaughtered, that the butchers were willing to do it for 
nothing, that is to say, for the perquisite of the entrails and offal 
alone. 

The next step was due to the genius of France. A Frenchman 
established a brush manufactory, and created a market for the 
bristles ; but his ingenuity was outdone by one of his countrymen, 
who soon after arrived. This man was determined, it seems, to 
share the spoil ; and, seeing nothing else left, collected the fine 
hair or wool, washed, dried, and cured it, and stuffed mattresses 
with it. But he was mistaken in thinking nothing else left. As 
but little was done with the lard, they invented machines and 
squeezed oil out of it ; the refuse they threw away. Mistaken 
men again ! — This refuse was the substance of stearine candles, 
and made a fortune to the discoverer of that secret. Lastly came 
one who could press chemistry to the service of mammon. He 
saw the blood of countless swine flow through the gutters of the 
city ; it was all that was left of them, but it went to his heart to 
see it thrown away. He pondered long ; and then, collecting the 

A A 



354 SLAUGHTER OF PIGS IN AMERICA. 

stream into reservoirs, made prussiate of potass from it by the ton. 
The pig at last was used up. 

If we look at the progress of the pig slaughtering trade in Cin- 
cinnati, we are struck by the remarkable progress made. In 
1833 only 85,000 hogs were killed there; in 1847 the number 
had increased to 250,000; in the season of 1862, 598,452 were 
killed, the average weight of each being 203 lbs. and the yield of 
lard from each 25 lbs. ; in the season of 1872 it was 630,301. 

The Mississippi Valley is the great seat of the trade in pork- 
packing which takes in the States of Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, 
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and a few others. The average number 
killed during the winter season (which extends from November 1 
to March 1) is about 5,500,000. 

The chief slaughtering towns are Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, 
and Indianopolis. If we take the largest central town — Chicago, 
we find that the hogs received in 1875 were 3,912,110 against 
4,259,629 in 1874; those received killed numbered 1,781,876, 
the average net weight of the hogs was 21,242 lbs. The total 
yield of lard obtained was 197,038 tierces, being an average of 
37-30 lbs. per hog. There were shipped 89,646,605 lbs. of bacon 
middles; 36,015,801 lbs. of hams, and 31,344,345 lbs. of green 
and dry salted shoulders. The price of the bacon hogs ranged 
from 6 J to 7 J dollars each. The total value of the hogs received 
in Chicago in 1875 was nearly ^13,700,000. 

There are two seasons termed respectively the winter packing 
and the summer packing. The following shows the number 
packed in the winter season for the several States which carry on 
this business : 

States. Number. 

Ohio 886,264 

Illinois 1,834,218 

Indiana 610,482 

Kentucky 333>7°6 

Tennessee 39, 860 

Missouri 890,679 

Iowa 350,087 



LARGE SLAUGHTERING HOUSES. 355 

States. Number. 

Kansas 49, 1 79 

Nebraska 20,835 

"Wisconsin 25,320 

Minnesota 331*635 

West Virginia 4,000 

Michigan 549§9 

Pittsburgh, Pa 20,000 

Atlanta, Ga 4,75° 

Total 5,456,004 

The average gross weight of the pigs was 289J- lbs. ; the mean 
price per 100 lbs. gross $3.78. The aggregate gross weight was 
1,579, 56 8,854 lbs. and deducting the usual abatement of 20 per 
cwt, 1,263,655,084 lbs. To this has to be added the summer 
packing stated at 118,675,914 lbs. 

At Cincinnati in 1866 the average net weight of each pig, 
without the entrails, was 238 lbs. ; 354,079 were brought in alive, 
and at Chicago 1,410,520 ; and at St. Louis 191,899. 

The slaughtering and packing establishments at Chicago are on 
an extensive and very complete scale and worked by steam. 
With incredible rapidity the animal is lifted, killed, washed, 
scraped, brushed, gutted, cleaned and dismembered. Each part 
salted or smoked is then put into boxes or barrels, and is ready to 
be sent into commerce. From 1000 to 2000 pigs can thus be 
despatched daily in single establishments. These operations can 
be carried on throughout the year, except at periods of excessive 
frost. 

The building and appurtenances calculated for dispatching two 
thousand hogs per day, are thus described in an American agricul- 
tural periodical : — The hogs, being confined in pens adjacent, 
are driven, about twenty at a time, up an inclined bridge or passage, 
opening by a doorway at top into a square room, just large enough 
to hold them ; and as soon as the outside door is closed, a man 
enters from an inside door, and, with a hammer of about two 
pounds weight, and three feet length of handle, by a single blow 
aimed between the eyes, knocks each hog down so that scarce a 

a a 2 



356 MODE OF KILLING PIGS. 

squeal or grunt is uttered. In the meantime, a second apartment 
adjoining this is being filled ; so the process continues. Next a 
couple of men seize the stunned ones by the legs and drag them 
through the inside doorway on to the bleeding platform, where 
each receives a thrust of a keen blade in the throat, and a torrent 
of blood runs through the latticed floor. After bleeding for a 
minute or two, they are slid off this platform directly into the 
scalding vat, which is about twenty feet long, six wide, and three 
deep, kept full of water heated by steam, and so arranged that 
the temperature is easily regulated. The hogs, being slid into 
one end of this vat, are pushed slowly along by men standing on 
each side with short poles, turning them over so as to secure 
uniform scalding, and moving them outward so that each one 
will reach the opposite end of the vat in about two minutes from 
the time it entered. About ten hogs are usually passing through 
the scalding process at one time. At the exit end of the vat is a 
contrivance for lifting them out of the scalding water, two at a 
time, unless quite large, by the power of one man operating a 
lever, which elevates them to the scraping table. This table is 
about five feet wide and twenty-five feet long, and has eight or 
nine men arranged on each side, and usually has as many hogs 
on it at a time, each pair of men performing a separate part of 
the work of removing the bristles and hair. Thus, the first pair 
of men remove the bristles only, such as are worth saving for 
brush-makers, taking only a double handful from the back of each 
hog, which is deposited in a barrel or box. The hog is then 
given a single turn onward to the next pair, who, with scrapers, 
remove the hair from one side, then turn it over to the next pair, 
who scrape the other side ; the next scrape the head and legs ; 
the next shave one side with sharp knives, the next do the same 
to the other side, and the next the head and legs — and each pair 
of men have to perform their part of the work in twelve seconds 
of time, or at the rate of five hogs in a minute, for three or four 
hours at a time ! Arrived at the end of this table with the hair 



PROCESS OF PREPARATION. 357 

all removed, a pair of men put in the gambril stick, and swing 
the carcase or? on the wheel. This wheel is about ten feet in 
diameter, and revolves on a perpendicular shaft, reaching from 
the floor to the ceiling, the height of the wheel being about six 
feet from the floor. Around its periphery are placed eight large 
hooks, about four feet apart, on which the hogs are hung to be 
dressed ; and here again we find remarkable despatch secured 
by the division of labour. As soon as the hog is swung from the 
table on to one of these hooks, the wheel is given a turn one- 
eighth of its circuit, which brings the next hook to the table, and 
carries the hog a distance of four feet, where a couple of men 
stand ready to dash on it a bucket of clean water, and scrape it 
down with knives, to remove the loose hair and dirt that may 
have come from the table. The next move of the wheel carries 
it four feet further, where another man cuts open the hog almost 
in a single second of time, and removes the larger intestines, or 
such as have no fat on them worth saving, and throws them on to 
a large table behind him, where four or five men are engaged in 
separating the fat and other parts of value — another move and a 
man dashes a bucket of clean water inside, and washes off any 
filth or blood that may be seen. This completes the cleaning or 
dressing process — and each man at the wheel has to perform his 
part of the work in twelve seconds of time, as there are only five 
hogs at once hanging on the wheel, and this number are removed, 
and as many added, every minute. The number of men em- 
ployed, besides drivers outside, is fifty • so that each man may be 
said to kill and dress one hog every ten minutes of working time, 
or forty in a day. At the last move of the wheel, a stout fellow 
shoulders the carcase, while another removes the gambril-stick, 
and backs it off to the other part of the house, where they are 
hung up for twenty-four hours to cool, on hooks placed in rows 
on each side of the beams just over a man's head. Here are 
space and hooks sufficient for two thousand hogs, or a full day's 
work at killing. The next day, or when cool, they are taken by 



&58 PIG TRADE OF RUSSIA. 

teams to the packing-house, where the weighing, cutting, storing, 
and packing, are all accomplished in the same rapid and systema- 
tic manner. 

The importance of the products of the hog in America are 
shown by the exports in 1875 which were as follows, from the 
principal American ports and Montreal. 

Pork, barrels 223,803 

Bacon and hams, lbs 184,502,606 

Lard, lbs 166,402,584 

There was also made 8,552,583 gallons of lard oil in the States, 
worth 7,701,900 dollars. 

Passing now to another great pig producing country, we find 
that as regards the number of swine, Russia stands first among 
the European States, the German Empire, Austria, and France, 
ranking next in succession. The indigenous races reared in 
Russia are the short-eared or native, the long pendant-eared, the 
tridactyle pig, and the breeds of Caucacus and Siberia. 

The short-eared race is not a beneficial one. Its head is 
massive, legs long, and body covered with hair; an adult pig 
furnishing about one pound of bristles. It fattens but slowly and 
does not attain its full development till its third year, gives a fair 
quality of lard, but the flesh is meagre and bad. Its ordinary 
weight when fattened is from 200 to 360 lbs. The Finnish or 
lop-eared pig is principally raised in the western part of Russia. 
It exceeds the common short-eared race in size and will fatten up 
to 540 and 720 pounds. It is more costly to fatten but yields in 
return a better quality of meat and a larger amount of lard. 

The pigs of the Caucasus have also long pendant ears, and are 
generally of a black colour. They are very prolific, the sows pro- 
ducing 10 to 18 at a litter. In the Russian villages the pigs are 
left to roam at perfect liberty, seeking their food in the woods, 
fields, or streets, and it is only in rigorous winters that they are 
enclosed in pens and fed. Fattening is only carried on in the 



CONSUMPTION OF PORK IN FRANCE. 359 

vicinity of large manufactories of starch, beet-root sugar, and oil, 
or distilleries. 

Of late years there has been an export of swine carried on from 
Russia. The average amount in numbers between 1869 and 1872 
was 336,205 ; but in 1873 it rose to 689,000, and in 1874 to 
845,000, valued at about 30^. each. 

The consumption of all the products of the hog is very large in 
France, the business of the charcutier being much more extended 
than in England, and of these shops there are no less than 700 in 
Paris. At the annual ham fair held in that city on three days 
in Lent, the quantity of bacon, hams, and sausages, brought for 
sale reaches an amount of 500 tons. The number of pigs sold 
in the Paris markets is about 250,000 annually. 

Pork is the meat principally consumed in France and most of 
the countries of Europe. It requires all the care and judgment of 
the producers, however, to rear a variety of pig which combines 
a quantity of good flesh with firmness of fat suited to form the 
nutritive food of man at the least possible outlay. 

Most of the country people eat only pork. Some localities will 
not touch mutton, and others do not like beef, but there is not a 
village, a hamlet, or a cottage, where pork is not the ordinary food 
every day of the year. It is with pork that the daily soup is made, 
and with its fat or lard that nearly all vegetables are cooked. The 
peasant prefers to sell his milk and butter, and depend upon the 
fat of his pig for the wants of his household. There are, in France, 
two or three million heads of families or households, and it is 
within the mark to state that nearly every one of these consumes 
at least, one pig a year, indeed many kill three, four, or five a year ; 
hence instead of there being only five or six million pigs, it is 
probable that there are double that number. The French race 
of pigs is found to suit best the special wants of the people, pro- 
ducing a firmer fat, which does not Waste in cooking, and hence is 
better fitted for the requirements of the French kitchen. In the 
French jury reports of the Exhibition of 1867, M. Reynal, the 



3 6o LARD— BLADDERS. 

reporter, asserts that in a pig weighing 160 lbs. the English pig 
will only yield 50 lb. of meat, while a French pig of the same 
weight would give double, and better suited to the several pur- 
poses of the pork butcher. 

The famous Hungarian pork sausages or salami, as big as a 
man's arm, are largely consumed throughout the Austrian empire. 
Hungary supplies a great quantity of bacon and lard to the whole 
of Europe. But the pigs run to fat very much and are long in the 
leg, and many of them are so useless for food purposes that in 
some establishments in Pesth half-a-million are annually boiled 
down for their lard alone. 

Lard. — The melted fat of the pig forms a very extensive article 
of commerce as well as of home consumption in many countries. 

The melting of lard preserves it without using salt or any other 
antiseptic, simply because the pure lard is contained in very minute 
meshes or cells, and this cellular membrane being the parts that 
putrify, any process which will destroy or burst them while they 
are yet sweet, so that the lard may be collected separately, is all 
that is necessary for its curing or preservation. 

The application of heat has been found the simplest and most 
effective mode of bursting these cells. Melting in a cast-iron pan 
is the most usual way ; but in consequence of the liability to 
scorch or singe, melting by steam has been lately introduced, but 
steamed lard is not so certain to keep sweet, owing, no doubt, to 
the cells being imperfectly burst ; the heat of the steam not being 
intense enough for the purpose. Fire melting can be managed 
with entire safety under a proper system. 

Bladders are a good deal used for holding small quantities of 
lard. Pigs' bladders are the largest produced and run in more 
uniform sizes than calves' and bullocks' bladders. It is important 
that the bladders should be well cleaned by scraping and the use 
of acids, so that they may be tolerably transparent.* 

* A good collection of bladders and their uses is shown in the Waste 
Products Collection of the Museum. 



COMMERCE IN LARD, 361 

The leaf-lard and trimming, together with the heads and fat 
and such other parts as are not useful for packing, are placed in large 
high tanks and heated by high pressure steam for some hours, 
until the lard is completely set free. The lard is then drawn off, 
clarified, and cooled ; the leaf-lard is, of course, kept separate 
from the rest, being much more valuable. The second quality of 
lard is used for the production of lard oil, while the third quality 
or that made from such trimmings as have become slightly tainted, 
is used in the production of the lower grades of oil or for 
making soap. All hogs that die on the railway cars are also 
rendered and converted into the lower grade of grease or 
grease-oil. The refuse bone and meat from the rendering tanks, 
the internal organs, and the blood, are used in the manufacture 
of fertilisers. 

The exports of lard from the United States have been as 
follows in the past five years. 

lbs. 

1870-71 80,037,297 

1871-72 199,651,660 

1872-73 230,534,207 

1873-74 204,327,536 

1874-75 166,859,168 

Most of this is shipped from the port of New York. 

The exports from that port were in 1872, i73>73 6 >353 1ds - ; m 
1873, 184,175,568 lbs. ; and in 1874, 139,982,979 lbs. 

The greater part of this lard is sent to England and the West 
Indies. The quantity received in the United Kingdom has been 
yearly increasing. The imports were, in 



1841 6,226 

1851 120,409 

1861 3 2 4 5 69i 



1871 477,568 

1875 540,244 



The value of the lard received here in 1875 was ,£1,634,769. 
Much of the American lard is exported to the Havana where it 
is used instead of butter. The lard oil is said to be used in the 



362 LARD OIL—HOGSKINS. 

Eastern States to adulterate spermaceti oil and in France to lower 
the price of olive oil, from 65 to 70 per cent, being often mixed 
with the olive oil without detection. The impure lard and the 
fat extracted from diseased animals and from the offal is used in 
the manufacture of soap. 

Lard Oil is now made to a considerable extent, and has many 
economic uses. The lard in woollen bags is placed between the 
plates of immense hydraulic presses, and left about 18 hours 
under a pressure of from 100 to 150 tons. By this means the 
oil is expressed in a very pure and fluid state. 

In Cincinnati alone there are more than forty manufactories of 
lard oil, which make about 1,500,000 gallons of oil, and 5,200,000 
lbs. of stearine for candles. Glycerine is also now largely made. 
The lard is heated with water at 66 2 ° to 720 Fahr., by 
which the glycerine is separated from the fatty acids, and about 
500,000 lbs. are made annually by two or three establish- 
ments. 

Hogskins, besides their use for saddles, are prepared for leg- 
gings, portmanteaus, bags, and other purposes. The best curried 
fetch from 16s. to 30s., the second quality 13s. to 15J. 

Bristles. — After wool and silk one of the most important of 
the animal fibres we import is bristles. From 1840 to 1854, the 
average quantity of bristles imported into Great Britain ranged 
from 1,533,000 lbs. (the lowest), in 1842, to 3,237,000 lbs. (the 
highest), in 1853. Since that period, the average quantity received 
has been about 2,500,000 lbs. We have begun even to import 
bristles from such a distant region as China. The declared value 
of the bristles annually imported into the United Kingdom in 
1874 and 1875 was ^420,000. The supply of bristles comes not 
in bulk from the United States or any part of America, north or 
south, where they want flexibility — not from Great Britain, where 
swine by intermixing and crossing, have lost in the value of their 
clothing what they have gained in the delicacy of their flesh — 
not from France or southern Europe — nor from many of the 



RUSSIAN BRISTLES. 363 

German States where they yield, in the one case, too long a bristle, 
in the other too short and rigid, and hence have for many years 
been thrown out of the market — not even from Poland, whose 
immense woods furnish mast and acorns for herds of swine, but 
whose bristles, once in demand, either from natural deterioration 
or careless curing, have now fallen dead upon the market. The 
trade, indeed in bristles, is both American and English ; and these 
two nations hold its monopoly, but not its supply. It is upon 
Russia that the whole world is now mainly dependent for this 
most important household necessary and valuable article of 
commerce. In the interminable forests of Northern Muscovy, 
where, for thousands of square miles, the country is covered with 
pine and larches, oaks and beeches, birch trees and rowans, and 
the ground littered knee deep with cones, acorns and berries, the 
swineherd tends his half wild animals, that swarm in almost in- 
credible numbers, and drives them to water and feed. But not 
all of these are of value for their clothing. The perfect bristle is 
found only upon a special race, and that race fattened in a certain 
way. On the frontiers of civilisation, all over the Muscovite 
territory, are large government tallow factories, where animals, 
reared too far from the habitations of men to be consumed for 
human food, are boiled down for the sake of their fat. The 
swine are fed on the refuse of these tallow factories at certain 
seasons, and become in prime condition after a few months' feed- 
ing. It is from these animals that the bristles of commerce mainly 
come. 

Russia has long been celebrated for the quantity and quality of 
its bristles. The best are obtained from the common rustic pigs, 
those in fact which approach nearest to their savage parent, the 
wild boar. The finest are those taken from the dorsal spine of 
the animal. The largest quantity of bristles are obtained from 
the central governments, principally those of the north. Those 
of Siberia and of Sarapoul in the government of Viatka, are noted 
for furnishing the best. The average price is from ^7 ior. to 



364 THE TRADE IN BRISTLES. 

£8 5s. the poud of 36 lb. The average amount exported reaches 
114,440 pouds of the value of about ;£i, 000,000. 

France furnishes to commerce a large quantity of bristles, about 
2,000,000 lbs. from her native swine (about 850 grammes from 
each pig); this includes the bristles obtained by plucking and 
scalding hogs in Midi, Brittany, and La Champagne, the total 
value being estimated at about 1 ^ million francs. 

French bristles, whether produced in France or only cleansed 
there, bear the highest reputation in the market. They are white 
as wool, soft as an infant's hair, firm to the touch and exceedingly 
elastic. From these are made the brushes of the artist, and the 
pencils of the skilled painter and decorator. Bristles arrive in 
casks. They are tied in bundles, and packed with care. Length, 
elasticity, firmness and colour are the elements that constitute 
their excellence. The bristle expert selects those of six inches 
long to make up his class. Above seven will not do. The nine 
and ten inch bristles lack toughness. Length being settled, 
elasticity is next looked for. A single brush upon the hand and 
a glance into the bundle are enough. Colour then comes in. 
The dark go into one class, the brown to a second, the white to a 
third. Bristles may be bleached by remaining two or three days 
in a saturated solution of sulphurous acid in water ; most kinds 
can be bleached by merely moistening them and exposing them 
to the air, or by moistening them with very dilute sulphuric acid 
and exposing them to the sun. It is curious that what is con- 
sidered the meanest employment for the article should have 
put value upon the choicest selection. The cobbler's bristle 
rises in value above all others. The price of bristles steadily 
advances, the range being from is. to 7^. per lb. ; the demand is 
beyond the supply. 

At Konigsberg, in 1870, the transactions in bristles amounted to 
500,000 lb. ; half of these were produced in the province, and 
half came from Russia. About 100 men and women are employed 
there in assorting the raw material into the following classiflca- 



SWINE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



365 



tions : First and second grey crown, first and second white crown, 
white and grey shoemakers', and white and grey long.* 

Our imports of bristles in 1875 came from the following 
countries, in the proportions named : — 

lbs. Value. £ 

Russia 1,243,966 189,610 

Germany 7 6 9,873 I49, J 74 

Holland 288,127 43,58l 



Belgium 44,643 

France 99,109 

United States 38,730 

Other countries 74,548 



8,180 

15,239 
4,807 
8,612 



2,558,996 419,203 

Statistics of Swine in various countries according to the latest 
official returns. 



Europe. 




Reunion 


1874, 


71,490 


Russia . . . 


1876, 


11,694,000 


Mauritius . . 


1875, 


30,318 


Sweden 


1873, 


421,795 








Norway . . . 


1865, 


100,000 


America and 


West Indies. 


Denmark . 


1874, 


450,000 


United States . . 


1875, 


28,062,200 


German Empire . 


1873, 


7,124,088 


British America . 


1871, 


1,425,014 


Saxony 


1867, 


325,564 


Uruguay . . 


1874, 


100,000 


Holland 


1873, 


360,258 


Argentine Republic 1870, 


170,000 


Belgium 


1866, 


632,301 


French Guiana 


1874, 


5,3H 


France . 


1876, 


5,889,000 


Falkland Islands . 


1875, 


6,000 


Portugal 


1870, 


776,868 


Jamaica . 


1870, 


9,086 


Spain 


1865, 


4,264,817 


Other British West 






Italy . 


1874, 


1,574,582 


India Islands . 


1874, 


20,000 


Austria Proper 


1871, 


2,551,473 


Guadaloupe . . 


1874, 


12,123 


Hungary 


1870, 


3,692,788 


Martinique . 


1874, 


15,352 


Switzerland 
Greece . 


. 1866, 
. 1867, 


304,428 
55,776 


Australasia. 




Great Britain 


. 1876, 


2,293,717 


New South Wales 


1875, 


219,95s 


Ireland . 


• 1875, 


1,249,235 


Queensland . . 


1874, 


42,884 


Malta and Gozo 


. i860, 


4,500 


Victoria 


1875, 


i37,94i 








South Australia . 


1875, 


78,019 


Africa. 




Western Australia 


1875, 


13,290 


Cape Colony . 


. 1875, 


110,489 


Tasmania . 


1875, 


51,468 


Natal . 


. 1875, 


H,3I7 


New Zealand . . 


1874, 


123,741 



* Case 95 contains a good assortment of the bristles of commerce and of the 
other hairs used in brush-making, such as badger, camel, goat's hair, etc., 
while in Case 96, applications of the bristly spines of the porcupine are shown 
in a writing stand, pen holders, etc. 



366 PECCARIES— TAPIR. 

The wild hogs of Brazil (Dicotyles labiatus and D. torquaius) 
live in herds of sometimes as many as sixty individuals. The 
flesh is one of the best of Brazilian game. 

The peccaries of America are, however, much inferior to the 
wild hogs of Europe and Asia as an article of food, and are said 
to be only made palatable by the removal, immediately after death, 
of a singular dorsal gland which is found above the posterior 
vertebrae. 

The hide of the Tapir (Tapirus Americanus), when tanned, 
makes excellent boot soles, and is highly prized by the Indians 
for the manufacture of shields. The durability and resistance of 
this hide is proverbial. The flesh, when roasted, closely re- 
sembles beef, and is even compared to veal, especially if it be 
young. The fatty protuberance on the nape of the neck is 
alleged to be a delicacy worthy of the table of a modern Lucullus. 
The feet and cheeks, boiled to a jelly, are also considered 
delicious. 

Rhinoceros. — Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., lately read a 
paper before the Zoological Society on some cranial and dental 
characters of the existing species of rhinoceroses. It gave the 
result of the examination of fifty-three skulls of rhinoceroses, 
contained in the Museum of the College of Surgeons and the 
British Museum, and described the principal characteristics of the 
five forms under which they could all be arranged, viz. : — i. Rhino- 
ceros unicornis, Linn, (including R. stenocepha/us, Gray); 2. Rhino- 
ceros sondaicus, Cuv. (including R. Floweri and R. nasalis of 
Gray); 3. Ceratorhinus Sumatrensis, Cuv. (including C niger, 
Gray); 4. Atelodus bicornis, Linn, (including A. keitlon, A. Smith); 
5. Atelodus simus, Burchell. It was also shown that the skull of a 
rhinoceros, lately received at the British Museum from Borneo, 
was that of a two-horned species not distinguishable from C. 
Sumatrensis. 

The African species have two horns, the Indian, with the 
exception of the Sumatra species, but one horn. 



SPECIES OF RHINOCEROS. 367 

Dr. Barth mentions having often met with the rhinoceros in 
Central Africa, but only in the eastern part of the country. 

Livingstone notices the Kouabaoba or straight-horned rhino- 
ceros (R. Oswellii) which is a variety of the white (R. simus, 
Burchell). Although four species of the rhinoceros are enumerated 
by Dr. Smith, Livingstone is of opinion that there are only two, 
and that the other supposed species consists simply of a difference 
in size, age, and direction of the horns. 

The rhinoceros must at one time have been very numerous in 
the Cape Colony. There are still a great many in the north- 
eastern part of Great Namaqualand, the northern part of the 
Kalitari and Bitchouanaland, and the country along the Limpopo. 
There are said to be four distinct species : — 1. The Rhinoceros 
.Africanus, the common black rhinoceros with two horns of 
unequal length, once roaming in the immediate vicinity of Cape 
Town ; 2. the Rhinoceros Keitloa or black rhinoceros with two 
horns of nearly equal length ; 3. the Rhinoceros simus or common 
white rhinoceros ; and 4, the Rhinoceros Oswellii, or long-horned 
white rhinoceros, the most rare of all. 

Of the hide of the rhinoceros (as well as of the hippopotamus) 
the Dutch Boers make a sort of horse-whip known by the name 
of jambok. They first of all cut the hide into long strips three 
inches in breadth which are hung up to dry with a heavy weight 
appended to them. When thoroughly stretched and dry, these 
strips are again cut into three divisions, then tapered and 
rounded with a plane, and a polish given with a piece of grass, 
which renders them semi-transparent like horn. A jelly from the 
skin is much esteemed in China and Siam, and a good gelatine is 
also made with the feet of the rhinoceros. 

The illustration on the next page represents a carved rhinoceros 
horn from Siam, shown at the London International Exhibition 
of 1862. 

There are in the Animal Products Collection of the Bethnal 
Green Museum, in Case 169, sections of rhinoceros horn and 



368 HIDE AND HORN OF THE RHINOCEROS. 

examples of its commercial applications formed into tazzas, 
umbrella handles, walking sticks, whips, and other uses. 

There is also a good skull with the horn in situ of the Indian 
rhinoceros and three specimens of horns of the rhinoceros of 




CARVED RHINOCEROS HORN, SIAM. 



different sizes. These horns are not attached to the bone, but 
merely rest upon it. They are composed wholly of horny matter, 
and this is disposed in longitudinal fibres ; so that the horn 
seems rather, as Prof. Owen observes, to consist of coarse bristles 



USES OF RHINOCEROS HORN. 369 

compactly matted together in the form of a more or less elongated 
sub-compressed cone. 

When turned in the lathe and fashioned into drinking-cups, 
these are held in high repute in Southern Africa by the colonists. 
The Dutch Boers firmly believe, according to the ancient creed, 
that if any noxious fluid were poured into a cup of this descrip- 
tion, it would instantly foam and boil over the brim. Captain 
Burton in his " Central Africa " says : — 

" The gargetan (karkadan ?), or small black rhinoceros with a 
double horn, is as common as the elephant in the interior. The 
price of the horn is regulated by its size ; a small specimen is to 
be bought for one jembe or iron hoe. When large the price is 
doubled. Upon the coast a lot fetches from six to nine dollars 
per frasilah, which at Zanzibar increases to from eight to twelve 
dollars. The inner barbarians apply plates of the horn to hel- 
comas and ulcerations, and they cut it into bits, which are bound 
with twine round the limb. Large horns are imported through 
Bombay to China and Central Asia, where it is said the people 
convert them into drinking cups, which sweat if poison be admin- 
istered in them; thus they act like the Venetian glass of our 
ancestors and are as highly prized as that eccentric fruit, the coco 
de mer. The Arabs of Muscat and Yemen cut them into sword- 
hilts, dagger-hafts, tool-handles, and small boxes for tobacco and 
other articles. They greatly prize and will pay twelve dollars per 
frasilah, for the spoils of the kobaoba, or long-horned white 
rhinoceros, which, however, appears no longer to exist in the 
latitudes westward of Zanzibar island." 

A long perfect horn sometimes sells in China as high as ^"20, 
but those that come from Africa do not usually fetch above £6 
or £l each. The principal use of these horns is in medicine and 
for amulets, for only one good cup can be carved from the end of 
each horn, and consequently the parings and fragments are all 
preserved. 

3J tons of these horns were imported into London in 1874. 



370 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

Good sound rhinoceros horns of 28 to 32 inches long will fetch 
4*. to $s. per lb. ; smaller ones, from 13 to 25 inches long, \od. 
to is. 6d. per lb. 

Hippopotamus. — This thick-skinned animal (Hippopotamus am- 
phibius) is a native of Africa, and is well known now to most 
persons by the specimens to be seen in the Zoological Gardens, 
Regent's Park. It is popularly termed the sea-cow by the Dutch 




HIPPOPuTAMUS AMPJtilBIUS. 

settlers of Southern Africa. The interest attaching to this animal 
from an economic point of view is rather limited, being chiefly 
confined to a local use of its skin and flesh in Africa and the 
limited application of its powerful teeth or tusks as a substitute 
for true ivory. 

Livingstone found the Kafue river (in 16 ) full of hippopotami, 
the young being perched on the necks of their dams. About a 
thousand of these large animals must have been slaughtered 
yearly to meet the demand for this ivory. 

The flesh of the hippopotamus is delicate and succulent. The 
layer of fat next the skin makes excellent bacon, technically 
denominated hippopotamus " speck " at the Cape. Dr. Schwein- 
furth says that when boiled, hippopotamus fat is very similar to 
pork lard, though in the warm climate of Central Africa it never 
attains a consistency firmer than that of oil. Of all animal fats it 
appears to be the purest, and, at any rate, never becomes rancid, 
and will keep for many years without requiring any special process 



HIDE AND TEETH OF HIPPOPOTAMUS. 371 

of clarifying ; it has, however, a slight flavour of train-oil to which 
it is difficult for a European to become accustomed. The hide is 
in some parts two inches thick, and not much unlike that of the 
wild boar. The hide of a full grown hippopotamus is sufficiently- 
heavy to load a camel. * From the hide are made most punishing 
whips, of which a few have occasionally appeared in the shops of 
London. 

Dr. Schweinfurth states that several hundred Nile whips or kur- 
batches can be made from the hide of a single hippopotamus, and 
these are in great demand in Egypt. By a proper application of 
oil, heat, and friction, they may be made as flexible as gutta percha. 
The fresh skin is easily cut crosswise into long quadrilateral strips, 
and when half dry the edges are trimmed with a knife, and the 
strips are hammered into the round whips, as though they were 
iron beaten on an anvil. The length of these much dreaded 
"knouts" of the South is represented by half the circumference 
of the body of the hippopotamus, the stump end of the whip, 
which is about as thick as one's finger, corresponding to the skin 
on the back, whilst the point is the skin of the belly. 

Hippopotamus teeth were in former years largely in demand 
by dentists to make artificial teeth, and as much as 305-. per pound 
was paid for fine tusks ; the dentine is very hard and dense, and 
contains less organic matter than the ivory of the elephant or the 
tusk of the walrus. Mineral teeth, however, have almost exclu- 
sively replaced those made of this substance. Some seven or eight 
tons of hippopotamus teeth used to be imported yearly, but they 
fetch a very low price now — is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per lb. When great 
delicacy is required, this dentine, however, is found more suitable 
for carvings than the ivory of the elephant, and is much used in 
France for this purpose, especially in the manufacture of fine 

* There are, in the Animal Collection of the Museum, samples of dried 
rhinoceros hide and elephant's skin, from Siam, in Case 140 ; and strong 
shooting shoes made of thick boar's hide. And on the south wall a wild boar 
hide for a shield, which took two years' tanning. Under the stairs, there are 
part of a tanned rhinoceros hide and a hippopotamus hide. 

B B 2 



372 HIPPOPOTAMUS TUSKS. 

brooches. Pausanius (viii. 46) mentions the statue of Dindymene, 
whose face was carved out of these teeth instead of elephant ivory. 

The tusks of the hippopotamus, like the incisors of the rodents, 
are maintained of a certain definite shape by being opposed to one 
another, but the tusks of the walrus and of the elephant, as it 
would seem through the absence of opposing teeth, acquire pro- 
portionately greater length, exhibiting, indeed, the largest size to 
which teeth attain in the animal kingdom. 

There is a fine skull of the hippopotamus, and several of the 
canine tusks and incisors shown in the Museum Collection, on the 
west wall. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

AQUATIC MAMMALS. 

Sirenid — Dugongs — Whales and the whale fishery — Products of the 
fishery — Changes in the trade — Its great decline — Whalebone — 
Spermaceti — Ambergris — Whale-oil — The Narwhal or sea-uni- 
corn — The comi7ion Dolphin — Porpoise — White Whale — Por- 
poise-oil — Porpoise-leather. 

Herbivorous Marine Mammals. — The eastern representa- 
tive of the family of Sirenia is the Dugong {Halicore Indicus, 
Desm. ; Trichechus Dugong, Gmel. ; H. Austra/is, Owen and Gray; 
Halicore Dugong, F. Cuvier ; Dugitngus Indicus, Less and Hamil- 
ton). It is distributed over the Indian Ocean, common in shoals, 
on the coasts of Ceylon, Aripore and the Bay of Calpentyn to 
Adam's Bridge. It is also found along the eastern coast of 
Australia from the Tweed to Cape York. The dugong is the 
principal of the herbivorous cetacea, subsisting entirely on a 
species of sea-grass which grows in those shallow waters, which 
are its regular feeding grounds. 

Professor Owen remarks, " the whole of the internal structure 
in the herbivorous cetacea differs as widely from that of the 
carnivorous cetacea as do their habits; the amount of variation 
is as great as well could be in animals of the same class, existing 
in the same great deep. The junction of the dugongs and mana- 
tees with the true whales cannot, therefore, be admitted in a 
distribution of animals according to their organization. With 
much superficial resemblance, they have little real or organic 
resemblance to the walrus, which exhibits an extreme modification 
of the amphibious carnivorous type. I conclude, therefore, that 
the dugong and its congeners must either form a group apart, or 



374 HERBIVOROUS MARINE MAMMALS. 

be joined, as in the classification of M. de Blainville, with the 
pachyderms, with which the herbivorous cetacea have most 
affinity." 

The upper lip is very large and thick, and both are covered 
with a hard horny substance, which aids the animal in tearing up 
the submarine weeds which are its food. The eyes are small, like 
most others of the whale tribe, and the ears very minute. They 
usually frequent the ocean inlets, where their food most abounds, 
browsing on them like an ox eating up the grass. In size 
these animals seldom exceed 14 feet in length. The fatty oil is 
obtained from the adipose matter of the cellular substance under 
the skin. It is free from any odour, and when well refined, is 
clear and limpid. At low temperatures it nearly becomes thick, 
and loses its fluidity. 

The dugong is an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean, and is found 
principally amongst the islands of the Archipelago, and the north- 
eastern coast of Australia. As far as we are aware, they are not met 
with south of Moreton Bay, and even there they are not by any 
means as numerous as in the bays and shallows farther north. In 
the waters of Wide, Hervey, and Rodds' Bays they are far more 
numerous. But their chief habitat is the tropics. There they 
may be found at all seasons of the year in almost incredible num- 
bers, coming in and going out with the tide, just like huge mobs 
of cattle at a mustering on a large cattle-station. Dugongs being 
obliged to come to the surface to breathe, are rarely found in deep 
water, but usually in from two to four fathoms, where grow the 
grass and weed which are their sole food. 

In length they vary from six to fifteen feet, the average probably 
being about nine feet. The weight of an ordinary specimen will 
be from four to six hundredweight, although we have heard of 
individuals weighing something like a ton, and producing no less 
than twenty gallons of purified oil. Directly behind their peculiar 
flippers are situated the mammae, or breasts, which are not of very 
large proportions. The young are born singly, and are known as 



THE DUGONGS. 



375 



a calves." When killed and opened, a dugong is about the size 
and appearance of a bullock, except that the skin is thicker, the 




fat more like that of the pig, and that the tail part assumes the 
shape of that of a fish. 



376 FLESH OF THE DUGONG. 

The skeleton of one forwarded to Europe from Australia some 
years ago measured eleven feet in length. 

The flesh is excellent, tasting more like beef than fish. Gumilla 
states that the flesh of those of the Orinoco, when roasted, has the 
flavour of pork and the taste of veal, and when salted makes ex- 
cellent sea-store. The dugong is considered by the Malays as a 
royal fish, and the king is entitled to all that are taken. The flesh 
is highly prized, and considered by them as superior to that of the 
buffalo or cow. 

The dugong, or sea-hog, locally called " Mooda Hoora," is 
sometimes met with in shoals on the western coast of Ceylon. 
When captured, the flesh of this cetacean sells there at half-a- 
crown for a small piece of less than a pound in weight. It is 
esteemed a great delicacy by the Mahometans, who naturally seek 
a compensation in this dish for the prohibition under which they 
suffer respecting the porcine type terrestrial. 

The flesh of the dugong is much relished by the blacks. 
Dr. Kelaart, of Ceylon, says it is far from being disagreeable, 
and is not unlike pork. 

They are caught about the Straits Settlements, eight or nine 
feet long. Leguat, an old author, writing nearly 150 years ago, 
says they were met with in shoals of 300 or 400 around the 
Isle of France or Mauritius, and that they were sometimes twenty 
feet long. 

Dugong bacon has become an article of sale at Maryborough, 
Queensland, and is described as being, when properly cured, a 
relishing article of diet, more especially for the breakfast table. 
It is said to have the flavour of good bacon with just an agreeable 
" bloater " twang added. Mr. E. Wilson states that he uncon- 
sciously ate it in salted rashers for breakfast without knowing the 
difference. 

The "Moreton Bay Press" (Queensland) states that the bone of 
the dugong, or "yungan" (as the aborigines call it), in fineness 
and harcness of grain, specific gravity, and appearance, approaches 



DUGONG OIL. 377 

nearly to the nature of ivory. It could be used as a substitute 
for that material for most of its purposes, and might be procured 
in considerable quantities for export. 

The oil from the dugong has obtained a high reputation as a 
substitute in medicine for cod-liver oil. 

Dr. Hobbs, the health officer of Moreton Bay, tells us (what the 
later experience of many others also confirms) that " so sweet and 
palatable is the oil procured from the dugong, that in its pure 
state it may be taken without disagreeing with the most sensitive 
stomach, and also used in a variety of ways in the process of 
cooking ; so that this potent restorative remedy may be taken as 
food, and many ounces consumed almost imperceptibly every 
day, thus furnishing the system with the requisite amount of 
carbon for its daily oxidation." 

The Queensland Dugong fishery, situated in Hervey's Bay, 
near Maryborough, is owned by Mr. Y. L. Ching, a gentleman 
who has gone into the business in an extended and systematic 
manner. The dugong is taken either with nets or by harpoon- 
ing. Three or more boats are sent out daily, being manned by 
aboriginal crews (all of whom are picked men), whose sighting 
capabilities are very superior, far surpassing the whites at this 
sort of work. In this manner sometimes as many as six dugongs 
a day are taken. When one has been harpooned, it is imme- 
diately brought home and cut up. The oil is then extracted, and 
subjected to a variety of complicated processes, finally undergoing 
a chemical clarification, which renders it fit for the European 
and American markets, where, owing to its medicinal properties, 
there is a large demand for it. A large dugong weighs from 
10 to 12 cwt, and yields from 6 to 14 gallons of oil. Some- 
times, indeed, as much as 18 gallons are obtained from a good 
fish. 

Dr. Barth states that a mammal like the Manatus Senegalensis, 
called Ayu by the natives, is met with in the rivers of Central 
Africa. The South African rivers also have these mammals. The 



373 



SPECIES OF MANATUS. 



Ayu is not less frequent in the Isa, near Timbuktu, than it is in 
the Benuwe. 




There are said to be two Atlantic species — the Manatus Ameri- 
canus, and M. Senegalensis. The former frequents the mouths of 



SKIN OF THE MANATUS. 379 

rivers and quiet secluded bays and inlets among the islands of 
the West Indies and the coasts of Guinea and Brazil. It is said 
sometimes to attain nearly 1 5 ft. in length, and differs from the 
dugong in having no canines or incisors. It is particularly abun- 
dant in the lakes of the Amazon, where it is known as the " peixe 
boi." Wallace, in his Travels up that river, describes their cap- 
ture : — " Beneath the skin," he says, " is a layer of fat of a greater 
or less thickness, generally about an inch, which is boiled down 
to make oil, used for lighting and cooking. Each yields from five 
to twenty -five gallons of oil." Edwards, in his " Voyage up the 
River Amazon," also speaks of them, and says that they are not 
unfrequently taken eight feet in length. It is said to be a distinct 
species from the Manatus of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The skin of these animals is smooth, of a blackish-blue 
colour, much stouter than that of the ox, being nearly an inch 
thick. A Queensland paper recently stated that 49 dugong- 
skins were shipped by Mr. Smith, the naturalist, from Wide Bay. 




THE WEST INDIAN manatee (ikanatus Americanus)* 

" Their skins," it observes, " will probably find their way back to 
many of our mills and factories, in the shape of machine-belting, 
&c. Owing to the thickness and durability of the hide of the 
dugong there is an increasing demand for it, which is likely to 
lead to a considerable trade in this new commodity." 

* From Wilson's "Zoology." 



380 SPECIES OF WHALES. 

They make thongs of it about the Orinoco River, South 
America, to tie their cattle, and for horsewhips. Canes and sticks 
of Lamantin {Manatus Americanus) are made by moistening the 
dry layers of the skin, which are taken off when this mammal is 
caught, and it is very abundant in the seas around Cuba. These 
are beaten and passed over the fire to round and polish them. 
They are only made to order, but might become an important 
industry if the skin of the manatus entered more into commerce, 
as it is capable of many other applications, such as riding-whips, 
surgical instruments, &c. The price of the walking-sticks in 
Trinidad de Cuba is from £2 to £3 10s. according to the care 
with which they are prepared. 

Whales. — These cetaceous animals, of which there are several 
species, are of commercial importance on account of the oil con- 
tained in their fat or blubber, and in the head of some, and of 
the whalebone or horny laminae in their upper jaw. Large fleets 
used to be fitted out by different countries for their capture, but 
the outfit of vessels has greatly declined in number and tonnage 
of late years. 

One species of whale is met with about the North Pole, two in 
the Atlantic, and two others in the Pacific. On the coasts of 
South America another species is found, known as the Southern 
whale. It passes the summer about the Cape of Good Hope, and 
in winter is met with about the South American coast. There 
would seem to be also two species in the Pacific. One in the north 
is met with in winter near America, in summer close to Asia, on the 
coasts of Japan and China. The southern species passes the 
spring near America, and is found in winter in the Oceanic seas. 
The Greenland whale, the object of the principal fishery, never 
leaves the icy seas. The waters with which the earth is begirt are 
still full of the leviathans of the deep. They change indeed their 
habitation from time to time. 

The whales caught about the Eastern Archipelago are of the 
cachalot or sperm kind. Those to the north of Australia and the 



THE WHALE FISHERY. 



38i 



west coast are of various kinds, the cachalot, right whale, and 
humpback. 

The total number of whales killed in the northern fisheries in 
the forty-three years ending 1858 was about 24,000, besides 
twenty or thirty captured yearly in the shore fisheries of the 
colonies. Hull formerly took the lead in whaling, and during the 
period between 1772 and 1S59 that port benefited to the extent 
of nearly 7J millions sterling by the whaling trade, upwards of 




A, right OR GREENLAND WHALE (Balcena mysticetus). 

B, cachalot or sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). 

2,000 ships having been sent out at different times. Peterhead 
has latterly taken the first place in the outfit for the Northern 
whale fishery. The produce of the fishery brought into that port 
in the ten years ending 1858 was 1,108 whales captured, yielding 
23,636 tuns of oil and 14,455 cwts. of whalebone, of the aggregate 
value of ;£i, 239,000. The whale trade has been gradually 
shifting from the ports in this country, which formerly enjoyed 
the greatest share of the business. 

Previous to the year 1790 London was the principal port from 
whence the vessels sailed, inasmuch as four times as many were 
sent out from the Greenland Docks at Deptford (now the Com- 



382 BRITISH WHALE FISHING. 

mercial Docks) as from any other place. In 1820 55 vessels 
measuring 17,603 tons were dispatched, which brought in 7,946 
tuns of oil, and 19J tons of bone ; in 1830 90 ships were sent out. 
Liverpool, which also used to fit out many ships for the whale 
fisheries, has long given up the pursuit and turned her shipping to 
other channels. 

The following is the result of the British whale fishing from 
Dundee since 1865 : — 

No. of Ships. Oil— Tuns. Bone- Tons. 

1865 7 630 30 

1866 II 340 18 

1867 II 20 — 

1868 13 970 50 

1869 IO 140 7| 

1870 6 760 40! 

1871 8 1,165 6ii 

1872 10 1,010 54 

1873 IO hSS 2 6 9 

1874 10 1,290 66\ 

The price of whale oil at the commencement of 1877 was 
£$° to ^33 ioj. per tun. The imports in 1876 were only 45 
tuns. 

The price of Arctic and Davis' Strait whalebone has run up to 
the extraordinary price of ;£ 1,200 to ^1,300 a ton, or about 
treble the average prices of the past ten years. The consumption 
of whalebone in this country was, in 



Tons. 

1872 .. Ill 

1873 ... IO4 

1874 107 



Tons. 

1875 »»l 72 

1876 55 



The records of the American whale fishery prove how petroleum 
and vegetable oils have been driving animal oils from the market 
In 1846, 730 ships measuring 233,189 tons, were employed in the 
American whale fishery. In 1874, only 163 ships measuring 
37,733 tons were so occupied ; being little more than half the 
number that were fitted out in 1846, for the North Pacific fishery 



• PRODUCTS OF THE AMERICAN FISHERY. 3 8 3 

alone. To show the great fluctuations, I give the imports of the 
three articles the produce of the American whale fishery at 
decennial periods. 





Spermaceti. 


Whale Oil. 


Whalebone. 




Barrels. 


Barrels. 


lbs. 


1846 


95,217 


207,493 


2,276,930 


1856 


80,941 


197,941 


2,592,700 


1866 


36,663 


74,302 


920,375 


1874 


32,203 


37,782 


345,560 



The largest take was in 1853, 103,077 barrels of spermaceti, 
260,114 barrels of oil and 5,652,300 lbs. of whalebone. 







IN PURSUIT OF WHALES. 



Products and exports of the American whale fishery : — 



Spermaceti, 
Barrels. Exported. 

1868 ...... 47,174 ••-••. 18,619 

1869 47,906 18,645 

1870 55,183 - 22,773 

1871 ...... 41,534 .... 22,156 

18 72 45,201 24,344 

1873 42,053 , 16,238 

1874 ...... 32,203 ...... 18,675 



France has quite given up the whale fishery. 



Whale Oil 




Barrels. 




Exported. 


65,575 




9,885 


85,011 




3,842 


72,691 




9,872 


75,152 




18,141 


31,075 




1,528 


40,014 




2,153 


37,782 




3,30O 


ishery. 


Ten 


years ago 



384 WHALE OIL. 

two or three vessels used to bring in 200 or 300 tuns of oil and 8 
or 10 tons of whalebone, but there have been no vessels employed 
since 1868. 

A coast fishery, for the capture of the whales that approach the 
shore, is still prosecuted in some few of our Colonies. There is 
an export of whale-oil from New Zealand. 

The whale fishery from Tasmania employed 16 vessels in 1874, 
instead of 18, as in the previous year. These brought into port 
342 tuns of sperm oil valued at ,£30,780; whereas, in 1873, 558 
tuns of sperm oil and 125 tuns of black oil, valued at £44,000, 
were returned as the produce. The fishery was carried on in 
1875 by 13 vessels. Seventeen vessels obtained, in 1869, 13 tuns 
of black oil and 643 tuns of sperm, with 8 cwt. of whalebone, 
the whole valued at £"49,000. In 1875 the exports from the 
colony were : — 

Value. £ 

Black oil 25 tuns 965 

Sperm oil 3Hh „ 29,970 

Whalebone 2,000 lbs 38 



£30,773 



The largest amount shipped in the past ten years was £"52,546 
in 1868. 

Dr. Scoresby says the flesh of the young whale is of a red 
colour, and when broiled and seasoned with pepper and salt, eats 
like coarse beef. The milk of the whale resembles that of the 
quadrupeds in appearance, and is said to be rich and well 
flavoured. 

Whale-oil. — Blubber is the cellular membrane in which the 
oil of the whale is included. Its thickness varies from 8 to 20 
inches, and frequently as much as 100 tuns of oil is obtained 
from a full grown whale. The oil is drained out of the blubber 
by placing the latter cut up in racks, through which the oil drips 
down into casks. It is then heated up to 225 to deprive it of its 
rancid smell, and also to make the grosser parts settle. The oil 



WHALEBONE. 385 

is then pumped over with water, left to cool, and finally stored in 
casks. 

Under the general name of black fish oil of the whalers, several 
kinds are included. Thus the pilot whale ( Globiocephalus Svineval) 
is known as the black whale to seamen, and among American 
sailors G. intermedins is so termed. The common black whale of 
the Australian Seas is Balcena Australis, and the name is some- 
times applied to Physeter microps and P. Tursio. The killer or 
black fish of the South Sea whalers is the Globiocephalus macro- 
rhynchus. 

A black fish of average size will produce from 30 to 35 gallons 
of dark oil, with an unpleasant odour. 

Whalebone.— These animals have no teeth, but in their place 
they have substitutes in the form of baleen plates ending in a 
fringe of bristles. These two extensive rows of whalebone or 
" fins," as they are denominated in trade, are suspended from the 
sides of the crown bone, and hang down on each side of the 
tongue. 




A B 

A, SKULL OF WHALEBONE WHALE {Balcena mystketus). a, CRANIAL PORTION 

OF SKULL; b, UPPER JAW; C, LOWER JAW; d, BALEEN. 

B, SINGLE PLATE OF BALEEN, SHOWING THE FIBROUS EDGE BY WHICH 

THE PLATES ARE UNITED TOGETHER. 



. Each series or " side of bone," as the whale fishers term it y 
consists of upwards of 300 plates or " blades," as they are com- 
mercially called ; on account of the arched form of the roof of the 

c c 



386 VARIETIES OE WHALEBONE. 

mouth, the longest are near the middle, from whence they gradually 
diminish away at each extremity ; fifteen feet is the greatest length 
of the whalebone, but ten or eleven feet is the average size, and 
thirteen feet is a magnitude seldom met with. If the largest blade 
in the series weighs 7 lbs., the whole produce will be about a ton. 
In young whales or suckers, the whalebone is only a few inches 
long ; but when the length reaches six feet or upwards, the whale 
is said to be of " size." 

Three principal kinds of whalebone are recognised in commerce. 

1. The Greenland, from the Davis' Strait fishery and various 
parts of the North Sea. 

2. The South Sea or black fish whale-fin, brought by the South 
Sea whalers ; and 

3. The North West coast or American whale-fin, obtained 
principally in the Pacific or Behring Straits fishery by the United 
States whalers. These three kinds are very different in shape, 
and are thus described by the late Dr. J. E. Gray. 

" The outer edge of the Greenland is curved considerably, in 
that of the North-West Coast it is much more straight, and in that 
of the South Sea nearly quite straight. The fibres on the edge in 
the Greenland and margined whales are very fine, flexible, and 
long, forming only a thin series ; in the South Sea they are rather 
coarser ; but in the North-West Coast much thicker and coarser, 
quite bristly, and much more so towards the apex ; and they are 
more erect, and form a thicker series, approaching in that 
character to the baleen of the 'finners.' 

" The Greenland fin has the hair on its edge generally stripped 
off, and is clean and bright when it is brought to England ; but 
this may be from the care the North Sea whalers take in col- 
lecting and cleaning it ; the blades are brought home in bundles 
•of about 1 cwt. each. On the other hand, the North-West 
Coast fin and the South Sea fin have the hair left on the edges : 
they are brought home in bulk, and are always covered with an 
ashy-white, soft, laminar coat, looking like the rolled external 



RECEIPTS OF WHALEBONE IN AMERICA. 387 

layers of the enamel. This coat has to be scraped off with large 
knives before it is used or prepared, and the surface after the scrap- 
ing is not so polished and resplendent as that of the Greenland 
'fins.'" 

The baleen of the right whale is very long, varying from nine 
to twelve feet, linear, tapers very gradually and is of nearly the 
same moderate thickness from end to end. 

The following table shows the receipts, in the United States, of 
whalebone from the Arctic, Greenland, and Southern Fisheries, 
and the quantities exported to Europe. 

Receipts. Export. Consumption, 

lbs. lbs. lbs. 

1861 I,II2,O0O 1,039,000 105,000 

1862 691,000 667,000 97,000 

1863 562,000 443,000 60,000 

1864 770,000 590,000 152,000 

1865 651,000 373,000 202,000 

1866 891,000 754,000 195,000 

1867 949,000 737 5 5°0 132,500 

1868 900,850 707,882 256,000 

1869 603,603 311,600 167,400 

1870 708,365 348,000 210,700 

1871 600,655 387,199 213,456 

1872 193,793 177,932 115,861 

1873 206,396 120,545 85,751 

1874 345,56o 164,533 181,027 

Whalebone is closely analogous, in its chemical and physical 
properties and mode of growth, to hair and bristles, but is deve- 
loped in compact plates which resolve into stiff bristles at their 
free margin, from the thick gum at the circumference and palatal 
surface of the upper jaw of the animals of the whale tribe. The 
most valuable kind of whalebone is obtained from the great 
Arctic whale {Balcena mysticetus) in which the plates or blades 
are arranged in several rows, the outermost consisting of the 
longest plates, attaining, in a full-grown whale the length of from 
8 to 12 feet. The Antarctic whale (B. Australis) affords the 
second best kind, and the great finner whale (Balcenofitera Bovps) 

c c 2 



388 DESCRIPTION OF WHALEBONE. 

the shortest and coarsest plates, which are only fit for splitting 
into the false bristle for brushes, &c. Prepared whalebone has 
been applied to covering whip-handles, walking-sticks, and tele- 
scopes; and, in the form of shavings for plaiting like straw, in 
the construction of light hats and bonnets. It has lately been 
used for the higher qualities of artificial flowers, probably for 
stamens, &c. 

Whalebone has nothing in it of the nature of bone, but is an 
albuminous tissue, resembling horn and hair, and, as it were, 
forming the transition between these two substances. This 
material answers the purpose of retaining the small mollusca 
and Crustacea contained in the water which enters the mouth of 
the whale, by the ^fringe-like bristles which project from the 
central part of the plates. The principal supply is obtained from 
the Greenland and southern whales (Balana mysticetus and 
Australts). From the roof of the mouth hang down on each side 
of the tongue about 300 plates of whalebone, or baleen, as it is 
properly called ; these are at right angles to the jaw-bone, and the 
largest of them parallel to each other. On the southern wall 
of the Museum there are displayed two pairs of blades of the 
hump-backed whale {Megaptera longimana and M. Americana) one 
from Bahia and one from Greenland; one pair of blades of 
medium size from the South Sea whale (Balcena Australis) ; and 
one large extra-sized blade, measuring about 1 2 feet from Davis 
Strait fishery — this blade has been cleaned and the hair-fringe 
removed ; — one pair of blades from Balcena Japonica ; and one 
medium-sized blade of Polar whalebone, cut into sections to 
show the mode of use, the largest plates being the most external. 
The form of the baleen-covered roof of the whale's mouth is a 
transverse arch, in which rests the convex upper-surface of the 
tongue when the mouth is closed. Each plate, on its inner and 
oblique margin, sends off a fringe of rather stiff but flexible hairs, 
which project into the mouth. 

The preparation of whalebone consists in boiling it in water 



SPERMACETI. 389 

for several hours, which renders it soft when hot; this process 
also renders it harder when it is cold, and of a darker colour; 
the jet black colour is the result of a dyeing process. Whalebone 
used to be largely employed for the stretchers of umbrellas, for 
canes, whips, and as a substitute for bristles in common brushes. 
It is impossible to use it with advantage on very extensive surfaces, 
as it cannot be soldered or joined together like tortoise-shell. 
When softened by heat, it can be bent and moulded, like horn, 
into various shapes, which it retains, if cooled under the pressure. 
The surface is polished with ground pumice stone, felt, and water, 
and finished with dry-sifted quick-lime. 

In Case 96 some manufacturing applications of whalebone are 
shown in plaited work and thin shavings for whips, rosettes, &c, 
dyed different colours. 

Spermaceti is a kind of waxy body which separates in cold 
weather from the oil obtained from the head matter of the cachalot 
or sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus). It is used a good deal 
for making candles, with about 3 per cent of beeswax added to 
prevent crystallisation. This manufacture has diminished to a 
great degree through the invention of composite and other hard 
candles. 

The head of a large sperm-whale will weigh about thirty-five 
tons, and forty-five barrels of pure spermaceti have been taken 
from the case, which is a mere vein in his head compared with the 
remaining part, which consists of four-fifths of the head, and is 
called " white horse " — a sinewy gristle, which is impenetrable to 
a sharp axe. 

In the right side of the nose and upper surface of the head of 
the cachalot whale, is a triangular-shaped cavity, called by the 
whalers "the case." Into this the whalers make an opening, and 
take out the liquid contents (oil and spermaceti) by a bucket. The 
spermaceti from the case is carefully boiled alone, and placed in 
separate casks, when it is called " head-matter." 

This substance is of a yellow colour, and its consistence varies 



39o STATISTICS OF SPERMACETI— AMBERGRIS. 

with the temperature. In purifying it, to separate the oil as much 
as possible from the solid matter, it is submitted to compression in 
hair bags placed in an hydraulic press. It is then melted in 
water, and the impurities skimmed off. Subsequently, it is re- 
melted in a weak solution of potash. It is then fused by the 
agency of steam, ladled into tin pans, and allowed slowly to con- 
crete into large, white, translucent, crystalline masses. 

Our imports of spermaceti or head-matter have been as follows 
in the last ten years : 

Tuns. Value. ; Tuns. Value. 

1866 2,121 .£263,118 j 187I 5,388 £451,028 

1867. 3,226 373,367 I 1872 3,715 333,534 

1868 1,945 185,960 j 1873 2,817 252,434 

1869 4,107 387,171 j 1874 3,155 296,630 

1870 4,069 341,340 I 1875 4,469 427,884 

Ambergris is a concretion from the intestines of the spermaceti- 
whale, and is a product of disease, as it is not met with in the 
healthy animal. It is sometimes found floating on the sea, and 
is occasionally extracted from the rectum of whales in the South 
Sea fishery. It has a grey white colour, often with a black streak ; 
has a strong, but rather agreeable smell, a fatty taste, is lighter 
than water, melts at 140 Fahr., dissolves readily in absolute 
alcohol, in ether, and in both fat and volatile oils. It contains 
85 per cent, of the fragrant substance called ambreine. This is 
extracted from ambergris by digestion with alcohol of 0-827, filter- 
ing the solution, and leaving it to spontaneous evaporation. It 
is thus obtained in the form of delicate white tufts ; which are 
converted into ambreic acid by the action of nitric acid. Amber- 
gris sells at from 2\s. to 42^. the ounce. 

Strangely enough, this substance is brought to Mogador in con- 
siderable quantities by the Timbuctoo caravans from the interior 
of Africa. It probably finds its way there from the West coast. 
At Mogador it sells for about ^20 per pound. Most of the well- 
off Moors have ambergris in their houses, and they use it in green 



THE NARWHAL. 39 i 

tea as a flavouring, and one of the greatest compliments paid to a 
guest is to present him with a cup of this curious mixture. 

The cachalot or sperm-whale is not unfrequently cast up on the 
southern coasts of Morocco. One was thus stranded at Casa 
Blanca in each of the three years ended 1870, and considerable 
quantities of ambergris are in this way obtained. The exports 
from Morocco were in : 

lbs. Value. 

1868 27 ^600 

iS69 6s 1,300 

i 8 7o 100 2,000 

i 8 73 18 360 

Ambergris is occasionally found on the shores of some of the 
Bahamas Islands ; two pieces brought lately (1873) at Nassau over 
^140 each. 

In 1869 ambergris to the value of more than, ^7,000 was im- 
ported into France from some of the French settlements of 
Madagascar, Mayotte, &c. 

The Narwhal or Sea Unicorn (Monodon monoceros). — This 
is a singular and very interesting animal, formed in many respects 
like the whale, but much more graceful. The colour is grey 
above, and pure white beneath; the whole spotted or mottled 
with a blackish hue. From the head projects a long straight horn 
of solid ivory, in the same line as the body. The structure and 
origin of this horn (which has given much celebrity to this hand- 
some creature) are very peculiar. It is, in fact, the tooth, and 
the only one it possesses in general : the fellow tooth, however, 
exists within the bone of the jaw, but undeveloped. It is usually 
the left tooth that projects. Its principal use appears to be to 
pierce and kill its prey, such as large skates and other fishes. 

This ivory sword is seldom used for manufacturing purposes. 
In the year ending March, 1875, the Greenland Company col- 
lected 457 lbs. weight of Narwhal horns which were valued at 
^75- ■ 



39 2 



HORN OF THE NARWHAL. 



The flesh is much esteemed by the Greenlanders and 
Esquimaux, who eat it dried and smoked, and employ certain 
parts of the intestines for making strong cords ; the tusks are 
used by them for pointing the extremity of their arrows and har- 
poons. 

The horn of the Narwhal has been sometimes obtained ten 
feet long ; it is spirally striated throughout its whole length, and 
tapers to a point. It was once in high repute for some supposed 




NARWHAL AND POLAR BEAR. 

medicinal properties. The narwhal is occasionally, though not 
very often, found with two of these horns or tusks, sometimes of 
equal, at others of unequal length. About ioo tons of these are 
occasionally imported in a year to Denmark from the Arctic seas, 
under the misnomer of "sword-fish horns." There is said to be 
a magnificent throne in Denmark made of this ivory, which is 
preserved with great care in the castle of Rosenburg. 

Among the collection of ivory on the east wall, there are four 
tusks of the narwhal, one six feet eight inches long, and another 



DOLPHIN AND PORPOISES. 393 

divided to show the section of the interior ivory. There is also a 
walking-stick carved from it, a turned walking-stick of the bone of 
a whale, and a native weapon of similar substance from North 
West America. In Case 140 is a sample of tanned whale skin. 

In Cases 171 and 172 are sections of teeth of the sperm-whale, 
and some carved. 

The Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) has at present little 
or no commercial importance, but in former years a dolphin was 
thought a fit and worthy present to be made to a Duke of Norfolk, 
who again distributed it among his friends ; it was roasted and 
eaten with porpoise sauce. 

The Common or Black Porpoise (Phocmna vulgaris) is the 
smallest, and the grampus (Phocana orcd) the largest of the 
animals of the Delphinidae family. The porpoise is commercially 
the most useful of them. 

The length of the common porpoise is from four to eight feet, 
and when in the water they present a considerable resemblance to 
large black pigs, whence they are frequently called sea-hogs and 
hog-fish. The name of porpoise is said to be derived from the 
Italian Porcopesce, or hog-fish ; the German Meer-schwein has the 
same meaning, and the French Marsouin is evidently derived 
from some old Teutonic form of the same word. 

In 1799, when animal oil was more valuable than it is now, the 
Society of Arts offered a premium of ^30 for the greatest number 
of porpoises beyond thirty which might be taken in the year off 
the British coasts, and an additional premium of ^13 for not 
less than fifteen tons of oil extracted from porpoises. 

The White Whale. — The extraction of the oil of the white 
porpoise (Phoc&na leuca), and of the black porpoise (P. communis), 
constitutes an important industry in the district of Quebec on the 
St. Lawrence River. 

One vessel brought home to Peterhead, in 1868, the oil and 
skins obtained from 250 white whales. 

This oil is inodorous, and gives a brilliant light ; it is said to be 



394 PORPOISE FISHERY. 

superior to any other for lighthouses because it does not congeal 
even in the most intense cold, and its ductility renders it in- 
valuable for greasing leather and oiling machinery, which it pre- 
serves from injury by friction. 

Porpoises are caught in large numbers in the Little Belt, 
Denmark, noo to 2000 being frequently secured. 

The porpoise was occasionally served up at the tables of the old 
English nobility as a sumptuous article of food, and eaten with a 
sauce composed of sugar, vinegar, and crumbs of fine bread. It 
was also often sold salted. 

In some parts of North America the skin of the porpoise like 
that of the beluga is tanned and dressed with considerable care. 
At first it is nearly an inch thick, but it is shaved much thinner, 
till it becomes somewhat transparent, and is then made into articles 
of wearing apparel; it also supplies excellent coverings for car- 
riages. 

The fishing for the porpoise is carried on off the coast of Tre- 
bizond ; it is taken in nets, and is also shot. It yields a large 
quantity of oil per annum ; a portion is consumed by the lower 
classes for light, and the rest finds a market at Constantinople. 
The natives at Lazistan are very expert in this business ; it forms 
the occupation of 1,500 to 2,000 individuals. 

Porpoise Leather. — Under the name of porpoise leather, the 
tanned skin of the white whale {Beluga catodon, Gray, Phocce?ia 
leiteas), has become an important article of trade. Originally 
introduced by Mr. W. Tetu of Quebec, in 185 1, they met with but 
little favour from tanners and leather dealers, although he obtained 
medals at all the great International Exhibitions. Notwithstanding 
that beautiful leather was thus shown to be made from them, the 
skins, when exposed to public auction in 1855, fetched only 2s. *]d. 
per half skin. 

Since that period half-skins have reached the price of £2 $s. 6d. } 
and the leather has been often sold at 15^. to 21s. per. lb. 

The skin when tanned has a great range of utility, comparing 



PORPOISE LEATHER. 



395 



favourably with the best French kid in beauty, cheapness, and 
durability, whilst it is in high repute for the strongest shooting- 
boots. 

A tanned porpoise skin and shoes made of it are in the Museum 
collection. 




POLAR BEAR AND WHITE WHALE. 



No individual has done more to develop the trade and increase 
their utility than Mr. G. Roberts of the Hudson's Bay Company. 
That company received the first porpoise skins from their settle- 
ment in Little Whale River, on the east coast of Hudson's Bay. 
They were imported as now in half skins in a salted state. Mr. 
Roberts undertook their development as leather on behalf of the 
company, and called with samples of the skins, and the leather that 
had been made in Canada from them, on several of the tanners in 
Bermondsey, who were all incredulous as to leather of such fine 
quality being produced from this skin. Ultimately he met a 
M. Bossard, a French tanner in business in Bermondsey, who 



396 PRODUCTS OF WHITE WHALE. 

took the matter up and produced from split skins, leather which 
up to this time has not been surpassed. 

Although occasionally seen in the Bay of Chaleur and parts of 
New Brunswick, it is chiefly in the river St. Lawrence that this 
mammal is found. As early as 1707 there were no less than eight 
companies or bodies of men, established at different points of the 
river for capturing them. In the year 17 10, one of these com- 
panies of six individuals took 800 porpoises : 159 porpoises were 
captured, in the years 1857 and 1858, at Riviere Ouelle. They 
are taken in enclosures made of light and flexible poles fixed in the 
beach, and harpooned or speared. The animal ranges in weight 
from 2,500 lbs. to 4,000 lbs, and each is probably worth for its oil 
and its skin ^7 or £8. About 250 to 500 of these whales must 
be captured within the Hudson's Bay territories, for they have 
occasionally imported, in a year, 2,000 half skins. 

Its flesh, which is said to be very good, is eaten by the in- 
habitants of some of the northern coasts where it is caught. 
Hans Egede says, "His flesh as well as the fat, has no bad taste, 
and when it is marinated with vinegar and salt, it is as well tasted 
as any pork whatever • " the fins also and the tail pickled or 
soused, are very good eating. Some of the internal membranes 
are used for windows, and some as bed-curtains ; the sinews 
furnish the best sort of strong thread. 

The Delphinapterus leucas, Pall., yields about 32 lbs. of oil : in 
some of the Russian seas the weight of blubber obtained is 
from 600 to 1000 lbs. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

MARSUPIALS AND THEIR USES. 

The Wombat— Opossums, Australian and American—Various species 
of Kangaroos, Wallabies and Wallaroos, hunted for their skins 
and flesh — Kangaroo-leather— Fur cloaks — Smaller marsupials 
— Ba?idicoots — Koala or native cat, kangaroo rat, &*c. 

Australia is distinguished by a large number of pouched 
animals, which are now extinct in almost every other part of the 
world ; except in America, where a few species still exist. They 
are considered to be the oldest mammals known. 

At a rough estimate there are no marsupials known in 
Australia. The existing species are of moderate growth, for the 
largest do not exceed two hundred pounds in weight ; they are 
divided into carnivorous or flesh-eating, and herbivorous or grass- 
eating sections, with a few genera of mixed feeders. 

The Wombat (Phascolomys Wombat), of which there are several 
varieties in Australia, sometimes called the native pig, is a burrowing 
animal, feeding chiefly upon roots. It is stout and heavy-bodied, 
and is generally about three feet in length. Its fur is very coarse 
and its skin tough. Its flesh, although red and coarse in appear- 
ance, resembles that of a pig in flavour, and is usually cooked by 
the colonists as they would cook fresh pork. In some places the 
wombats are very numerous, and as they burrow near the surface, 
the blacks easily find the course of their underground passage by 
striking the earth and listening to the sound. By this means 
they trace out the animal, which they forthwith unearth and 
knock on the head, and, as is usual with them, roast it. The 
wombat is easily taken alive and domesticated. 

Opossums.— The family of the Carpophaga (the Phalanger 



398 OPOSSUMS. 

tribe), has its stronghold in the southern portions of Australia, 
in particular on the south-east coast. 

The common opossum (Phalangista vulpind) has the widest 
range, and is found in almost every part of Australia. The dark- 
coloured, ring-tailed Phalanger (P. viverrina) is found on the 
southern and western coast, and on the plains of the interior. A 
species of Cuscus inhabits the extreme north, where the handsome 
little Belideus artel is also found. Belidcus sciurus extends from 
the southern portions of Queensland to Rockhampton and Port 
Denison. The great flying phalanger {Petaurista Taguanoides) 
is shot only for his skin. 

The opossums, of which there are several varieties, are very 
numerous in the open forest and brush lands ; their habitation is 
the hollows of large trees, from which they rarely venture out except 
at night. Shooting opossums is a very favourite sport for moon- 
light nights, when a great many may be killed by one whose eye 
is quick at detecting them, and whose skill as a marksman is 
sufficiently good to bring them from their elevated perches. To a 
person who is well accustomed to its use, a long- barrelled pistol 
is better for this purpose than a gun, first, because it is a more 
portable article in scrambling through the brushwood, and 
secondly, because it is frequently necessary to fire at a point 
immediately above the head of the sportsman. The presence of 
the opossums may be detected by a peculiar shrill cry to which 
they give utterance, or by the marks made by their claws in 
ascending the trees. The opossum seldom weighs more than five 
or six pounds. His flesh is good, but is not much used by the 
settlers ; it affords to the blacks, however, the largest portion of 
their animal food, as they are able to get the opossum with com- 
parative ease, by climbing the tree on which it abides. A good 
dog will scent an opossum most readily ; the more readily indeed, 
because he generally gets the carcase of the little animal as his 
share of the spoil, the sportsman contenting himself with the skin. 
When the bushman's dog points out the locale of an opossum, 



OPOSSUMS. 399 

the dog's master will often amuse himself by storming the dwell- 
ing of the concealed animal and capturing him at once ; if he is 
in the hollow of a limb, the limb is cut off, and he is speedily 
turned out ; if he is in the body of a hollow tree the interior of 
which is accessible near the root, a fire is lit below, and the poor 




a, The Woolly Kangaroo [Macropus laniger), with young protruding from 
the "Marsupium." b, Opossum {Didelphys ornata). 

opossum is compelled either to come out and face his enemies 
or to be suffocated — he chooses the former alternative, and is 
shot. 

The Virginian opossum (Didelphys virginiana), one of the 
largest and most robust of the genus, is eaten in the Southern 
States of America, and is said to be white and well tasted, but its 
ugly tail is enough to put one out of conceit of the fare. 

The Gamba, or saraque, another of the species, is considered a 
delicate meat by some in Brazil, while by others it is regarded 



4oo SPECIES OF KANGAROO. 

with repugnance ; the axillary glands have to be extracted before 
it can be eaten. 

About twenty years ago opossum skins first came into demand 
to be made into furs for ladies, and large quantities were brought 
into Buffalo city from Pennsylvania and Ohio, selling at about 2s. 
a-piece. In the Museum Collection of furs there are skins of the 
Australian and American opossums and of the kangaroo. 

Kangaroos. — There is no family of marsupials so largely re- 
presented and so widely distributed as the Poephaga, or kangaroos. 
They are found from Tasmania to New Guinea, and from the 
shores of the Pacific to those of the Indian Ocean. They are 
more or less nocturnal in their habits, shy and timid, and some 
as fleet as the wind. The female is provided with a pouch con- 
taining four teats, and produces one young at a time, though now 
and then two have been taken from the same pouch. The larger 
species are represented by the common great grey kangaroo 
{Macropus major) on the south and east side of Australia, and in 
the interior, by Macroptis ocydromus, on the west coast, whilst 
another large kangaroo, Osphranta antelopimts, is found in the far 
north. The fine red kangaroo {Osphranta rufus) inhabits the 
plains of the interior, almost from east to west, never approaching 
the coast ; while Osphranta robustus is only found in the moun- 
tainous district of the eastern parts. 

Mr. George Masters states that a very large and savage species 
of kangaroo is said to inhabit some of the mountain ranges about 
Spencer's Gulf, in South Australia. There are also reports from 
various travellers that large kangaroos, far exceeding in size any 
known species, exist to the north in the interior of the country. 
At present, however, no specimens of these large creatures have 
come to hand. The smaller species of the genus Halmaturus 
are more restricted in their habitat ; still, some roam over a very 
large extent of country. Peculiar to the east coast is the black 
wallaby {Halmaturus ualabatus), the only species found near 
Sydney. Further north occur H. ruficollis, principally on the 



SPECIES OF KANGAROO. 401 

Clarence River, and on the borders of Queensland, another hand- 
some wallaby, H. dorsalis, makes its appearance. H. parryii is 
also found in the northern districts of New South Wales. H. 
fiarma inhabits the semi-tropical Illawarra district, as does also 
the Pademelon wallaby (If. thetidis). In South Australia, we find 
If. Greyi, and H. Derbianus. On the west coast, If. hautmawii, 
If . fiarma, If. brachyurus, and the fleet and handsome If. ma- 
nicatus. In Tasmania, If. Billardieri, and If. Bennetii occur. 

Each part of the Australian coast has also one or more different 
kinds of Pefrogale or rock wallaby, namely : — P. penicillata, P. lon- 
gicauda, and P. inornata in New South Wales, P. xanthopus in 
South Australia, P. lateralis in West Australia, and P. brachyurus 
and P. concinna on the north-west coast. 

The genus Onychogalea, or nail-tailed kangaroo, has a similar 
distribution. O. frcenata is peculiar to the plains of the interior, 
and found from the eastern slopes of the coast range, to the 
junction of the Darling River, where O. lunata first appears, and 
extends within a short distance of the west coast. Another 
member of this genus, O. unguifer, inhabits the north-eastern por- 
tion of the continent. Many varieties (they can hardly be called 
species) of the genus fagorchcstcs, or hare kangaroo, roam over the 
vast plains of the interior, where also the burrowing Bettongias or 
Jerboa kangaroos are principally found; the genus Hypsip7-ymnus, 
or rat kangaroos, inhabit the forests and scrubs. 

There are a great many species of kangaroo, but the variation 
is not so much in appearance as in size and in their places 
of resort. The forester is the largest of the family, and is 
frequently found of two hundred pounds weight. The large 
males of this species are generally called the " old man kan- 
garoo " by the colonists, and by such of the aborigines as have 
a smattering oi English ; an accomplishment, by-the-by, which 
few of them are without. The wallaby and the pademelon are 
much smaller, the former inhabiting rocky grounds, and the latter 
being found exclusively in what is termed brush lands. The 



402 FLESH OF THE KANGAROO. 

average weight of the wallaby is about twelve or fourteen pounds, 
and that of the pademelon about nine or ten pounds. The 
kangaroo rat seldom weighs more than three or four pounds, and 
is found in various localities, even in the most barren scrub. It 
is not, as its name would import, anything of the rat species ; but 
a perfect kangaroo in miniature. The rock wallaby is found in 
large numbers on many of the small islands near the coast, as 
well as the main land. One species, the Jerboa, or Kangaroo 
Mouse, discovered by Sir Thomas Mitchell, is not larger than the 
common field Mouse. 

Char opus occidental is are very good eating (Krefft). The flesh 
of the short-nosed bandicoot (Peramcles obesuld) is delicious, 
especially when done in the native style, that is, the hair removed, 
and the game roasted upon the coals. The flesh of the great red 
kangaroo (Osphranta rufus) is very palatable, and preferable to 
that of Macropus major. The flesh of the nail-tailed kangaroo 
(Onychogalca lunata) is white and well tasted. That of the hare 
kangaroo (Lagorchestes leporoides) is delicious. That of the kan- 
garoo rat (Betlongia rufescens) is also very palatable. It is less 
sought for than his larger relatives, except by the sawyers and 
splitters, to whom these animals yield many a fresh meal during 
their sojourn amidst the heavily-timbered flats and ranges. They 
are very numerous, but are seldom seen in the day time. At 
night, however, with the exercise of due caution they are easily 
shot. The plan which is found most successful is the following. 
Strew ashes or white sand over a small space of ground, so as to 
form a light-coloured spot upon which the dark forms of the 
kangaroo rats may stand out in relief amidst the surrounding 
darkness. At some distance — as far as possible, consistent with 
the clear discernment of the animal, and with the certainty of 
the shot — the sportsman must crouch down, having his gun 
pointed towards the white spot, and resting on a log or a forked 
stick. A little maize or some broken bread strewed over this 
white spot will attract the animals to it, and the hidden sportsman 



FLESH OF THE MARSUPIALS. 403 

can hardly fail to secure one or more at a single shot. His 
movements, however, must be very slow and silent, and if he is 
concealed by a bush or a fallen tree, so much the better, for 
these little animals are very wary. 

The flesh of all the kangaroos is good. The fore quarters, 
indeed, of the larger animals are somewhat inferior, and are 
usually given to the dogs; but from the hinder quarters some 
fine steaks may be cut. These, cooked in the same manner as 
venison collops, are, to most palates, very little inferior to the 
latter. The flesh of the large kangaroo, as well as that of the 
wallaby, is often dressed in the shape of a hash, and in this form, 
also, it is excellent. Mr. Gould asserts the excellence of kan- 
garoo venison as a meat for the table. But the most admired 
part of the kangaroo is his tail. This is of enormous size in pro- 
portion to the rest of the body, the tail of a full-grown forester 
usually weighing ten or twelve pounds. It makes a superb soup, 
very much superior to ox-tail. The wallaby too is most commonly 
used for soup. The pademelon when cooked like hare affords a 
dish with which the most fastidious gourmand might be satisfied ; 
the flesh of the kangaroo rat resembles that of a rabbit, and it eats 
best when cooked in the same manner ; the last-mentioned animal 
is but little eaten, except by thorough bushmen, owing to the pre- 
judice excited by the unfortunate name which has been bestowed 
upon it, but those who have once conquered this prejudice usually 
become fond of it. 

Mrs. Millett, in her work "An Australian Parsonage," states that 
kangaroo venison still retains an honoured place at all tables in 
the interior. " The usual price of the meat, whilst in season, is 
i\d. the pound, and the hind quarters and tail alone are cooked 
the other parts of the animal falling to the share of the dogs. 
Being very dry meat it requires as much basting as a hare, and is 
generally eaten with the accompaniment of fat pork. A larded 
oin of kangaroo is a real dainty. The tail makes a splendid soup, 
which is very nutritious, and also capital stews and pasties : in fact, 

D D 2 



404 HUNTING THE KANGAROO. 

it is far superior to ox-tail for all culinary purposes. If kangaroo 
is dressed like jugged hare the deception is complete ; and the 
plan also answers well of salting a piece of the loin and hanging 
it up the chimney to dry in the smoke until it becomes hard 
enough to be grated like Hamburg beef." 

From the hind quarters of a huge forester, an animal which often 
weighs 200 lbs., some capital steaks may be cut, which, when cooked 
in the same manner, are very little inferior to venison collops. 

The taste of the flesh of the full grown animal may be compared 
to lean beef, and that of the young to veal. They are destitute of 
fat, if we except a little occasionally seen between the muscles and 
integuments of the tail. The colonial dish, called a steamer^ consists 
of kangaroo meat dressed with slices of ham. The liver, when 
cooked, is dry and crisp, and is considered a substitute for bread. 

The larger kangaroos, which inhabit the open forest lands and 
the plains, are usually taken by coursing ; a kind of sport in 
which, owing to the nature of the country and of the animal 
pursued, the horses, dogs, and huntsmen have generally their work 
to do. The kangaroo bounds off at a pace which requires his 
pursuers to use their best speed in following him, and the great 
height to which he can spring, enables him to clear all ordinary 
impediments to his progress. For the most part, therefore, his 
course is straightforward, through thick and thin, and in anything 
of a difficult country, more especially in some of the mountain 
regions, none but a good steed and a good rider can follow with 
any chance of success ; the stock-horses bred in the colony are 
admirably adapted to this kind of service. Kangaroo hounds are 
also bred and trained in the colony by the lovers of this sport, and 
a good deal of training, indeed, is necessary ; for the kangaroo, 
besides the speed and the peculiarity of his course, is a much 
more formidable antagonist to the canine race, and even to their 
biped masters, than would at first sight appear. The pademelon 
is sought for by the sportsman, either alone or aided by a good 
dog, and is brought down by the gun. A good deal of experience 



KANGAROO LEATHER. 405 

in bush-craft, however, is necessary for the acquisition of sufficient 
skill and quickness in this kind of shooting, owing to the rapidity 
with which the animal, on being alarmed, bounds away through 
the underwood to the concealment which the underwood affords 
him, and to the irregularity of his course. Old bushmen, never- 
theless, are very successful in this sport, when they think fit to 
pursue it, and the blacks are peculiarly skilful in capturing and 
killing the pademelon after their own fashion. 

"Boomers" (forester kangaroos) sometimes stand seven feet 
high. The average weight of a bush kangaroo is about eighteen 
to thirty pounds ; the wallaby is still less. The latter are taken 
in large numbers, by means of wire snares. Their skins, when 
dried in the sun, fetch from one shilling to one shilling and six- 
pence each. Great numbers of kangaroos are slaughtered every 
year for their skins alone, and the hunters make good wages. 
They increase so fast when unmolested, as to interfere with the 
profits of the grazier. Kangaroo skins have become an important 
article of commerce. They make the toughest and most pliable 
of leather for boot uppers, the best of morocco, and are used for 
whips, gloves, &c. So far back as 1849, 12 >5°° kangaroo skins 
were exported from Western Australia. An export duty of one 
shilling is levied on them. 40,590 were imported into Melbourne 
in 1 87 1, from the other colonies. Kangaroo skins (green) sell in 
South Australia at from js. to 455-. the dozen, and wallaby skins 
at ioj-. to 2 5 j. the dozen. Mr. James Farrell, of Melbourne, was 
awarded a premium of ^"ioo by the Victoria Government some 
ten years ago for the industrial application of kangaroo skins, and 
they have now become an important article of traffic, for experts 
declare that they make the toughest and most pliable leather in 
the world. Boot uppers of this material are said to be both 
comfortable and durable. Of these skins some are exported in their 
raw state, and others are locally dressed and manufactured. 7,000 
kangaroo^skins were lately imported into San Francisco for tanning. 

As showing the present great demand for skins, occasioned by 



4 o6 KANGAROO SKINS. 

the progress of furriery in Australia and in England — to which 
country there has of late sprung up and largely developed an 
exportation of pelts in the rough state — it may be mentioned that 
during the past five years the skins of the native Australian 
animals have advanced in value about sevenfold, so that kangaroo 
skins, which could formerly be bought for from $s. 6d. to 8s. per 
dozen, are now sold at from 20s. to 60s., and the coatings of 
wallabies now fetch from 36^. to 48^. a dozen instead of 48 pence. 
And it is the same with regard to opossum and nearly all other 
skins. Furriery, of course, has not alone caused this advance. 
There are now hundreds of thousands of native pelts exported to 
the English leather-merchants and furriers. One leading firm in 
Melbourne sends about 40,000 or 50,000 dozen away every 
season, and a London merchant, with whom they trade, recently 
offered to take a million skins at a price a trifle below their then 
marketable value. These facts will give some idea as to the vast 
number of skins annually sent from Australia. 

The natives of Australia make cloaks of the skin of the 
kangaroo. It requires three kangaroo skins to make a large, full 
cloak, such as one of those worn by the women ; and the skins 
of the female kangaroo are preferred, those of the males being 
considered too thick and heavy. The skins are prepared by first 
stretching them out, and pegging them down on the ground in 
the shade. The women then with a native knife scrape off all 
the soft inner parts, and afterwards rub them well to soften them 
with grease and wilgi, or clay. To form the cloak, the skins are 
sewn together with the dried sinews of the tail of the kangaroo, 
or when these are not at hand, with a kind of rush (Thysanoius 
ftmbriatus). The cloak is worn with the hairy side inwards. 

The " Goulburn Herald " mentions the result of an annual 
battue made in 1876, by a party who were out for nine days in the 
mountains with guns on the Boorombi ranges on the Murrum- 
bidgee, and brought home the skins of 1806 wallabies (Halma- 
turus sj>.), and 23 wallaroos (Osphranta robust its). 



BANDICOOTS.— FUR RUGS. 407 

Wallaby skins are very plentiful further north. It was stated in 
the Queensland Catalogue of the Vienna Exhibition, that there 
would be no difficulty in procuring a supply of 2,000 per week; 
" waxed," they are worth, in the colony, like the black grained 
kangaroo skins, 4J. 6d. per lb.; dressed with the fur on, 2s. 6d. each. 

Of the Bandicoots, there are several species. In South 
Australia there are two found, Perameles fasa'ata, and P. obesula. 
The flesh of the rabbit-eared species (P. lagotis) is sweet, and 
resembles that of the rabbit, by which name it is known in Western 
Australia. Most of these Australian animals are clothed with rich 
and beautiful fur, and the conversion of this material into articles 
of dress and ornament affords profitable employment. A well- 
finished carriage rug of the Tasmanian black opossum is an article 
of luxury that it would be difficult to surpass, whether in usefulness 
or elegance. The animal known as the koala or native bear 
(Phascolarctos cinereus\ the native cat (JDasyurus), the wallaby 
(ITalmaturus), kangaroo rat {Hypsiprymnus), and some others, all 
supply the Australian furrier with valuable material, which he 
converts into men's caps, coats, waistcoats, &c, and into ladies' 
muffs, cuffs, and other articles of wear. The largest of the brush- 
tails (Phascogaie penicillatd) is found in almost every part of 
Australia, near the coast districts at least. 

Fur rugs, of beautiful softness, close and warm, and often of 
elegant appearance, are annually made in thousands of the skins of 
the opossum (Phalangista vidpina) and the native cat (Dasyurus 
viverri/ms), not only as carriage wraps but for use instead of 
blankets by the great number of people whose business leads 
them to sleep in the open air. 

A good waterproof rug of sixty skins can be had in Australia for 
£2 or £$. Considerable purchases of opossum skins have of 
late years been made to send to England for the manufacture of 
gloves. Liberal prices have been offered by shippers, and it is 
hoped that this may induce some of the unemployed to turn their 
attention to procuring them. The opossum has for many years 



4o8' AUSTRALIAN TRAPPERS. 

past been a great nuisance in the wooded country and hilly 
districts throughout the colonies. The white gum trees in many 
localities have been almost destroyed by them, and the injury they 
do to gardens, orchards, vineyards, and wheat crops is astonishing. 
The Australian trapper carries on profitably in several parts of 
the country his lonely occupation ; and several hundreds of men 
pass six months of the winter season in capturing, for the sake of 
their furs, the opossum, native cat, and flying squirrel. The 
principal scene of the labours of these adventurers is the im- 
mense expanse of open woodland country that borders the arid 
plains of the Adelaide desert, and after passing Horsham, on the 
Wimmera, the solitary tents of these wandering sons of Nimrod 
may be seen at intervals of several miles. The method generally 
used to trap the unsuspecting varmint is by the old figure of 
four trap, a heavy weight being attached to the upper covering, 
which, on losing the support of the treacherous piece of wood, 
previously baited, falls heavily on the unfortunate animal, killing- 
it instantly ; the skins by this method are uninjured. The trapper 
has generally each day 40 or 50 traps to attend to, leaving them 
baited every evening, and going round the following morning to 
gather the trophies of the chase j of course he is compelled to be 
satisfied if only half of his traps have proved successful. The 
animals are then skinned, and the skins pegged out with the fur 
inside to the smooth bark of a gum tree, for the purpose of drying, 
and afterwards are packed away in bundles to be forwarded at 
the end of the season to Melbourne, where, we understand, good 
skins will fetch from 3^/. to 4^/. each, a successful trapper being often 
able, after paying all expenses, to clear ^"40 or ^50 by his trip. 



INDEX 



African cattle . 

— ivory 
Albumen, Blood . 
Alpaca .... 

— wool . 
Ambergris . . . 
Angora goats 

Animals, live, value of those 

'ported . 
Animal Products Collect 
origin of 

— substances, value of 
exports . 

Antarctic whale 
Antelope tribe 
Arab horse . 
Arctic whale . 

Arnee buffalo . . 
Asses in Persia 

— value of in Ireland . 
Austrian cattle 



PAGE 

. . So 

• 332 
. . 168 

. 66 
. . 66 

• 390 

• • 50 
im- 

xvi 
ion, 

. xiii 
the 
. xviii 

• 337 

• • 199 

• 309 

• • 387 
. 103 

■ • 325 

xix 

. . 91 



Bacon and hams shipped from 
the United States 352, 

— — our imports of 
Badgers .... 
Baleen (and see whalebone) 
Bandicoots 

Bats .... 
Baum, or wood martin 
Bear skins . 
Beaver . . . 

— skins, imported by 



353 
349 

255 



407 
290 
260 
214, 248 
. 214 
the 
Hudson's Bay Company 294 



"Bend," a side of leather 

Berkshire pig . 

Biltong, dried venison . 

Bisons 

Bizcacha or Vizcacha . 

Black bear 

Black fish oil . . . 384, 

Bladder, uses of . . 168, 

Blood albumen . 

— uses of 
Blubber, whale . 
Blue fox skins 
Bondon cheese . 
Bone buttons 
Bones, composition of 

— imports of . 

— statistics and uses of 
Bookbinding 
Bovine race 
Bovines, divisions of 
Brahmin bull 
Bristles .... 35S, 

— our imports of. . 349, 
Brush-making materials 

Buckhorn 

Buffalo, name misapplied to bison 

— milk . . 

— robes 

Buffaloes . . 

Bullock waggons . . . . 
Bullock's bungs 

— weasands . . . . 
Bushbok ..... 
Bush cat or tiirer cat . . 



155 

35o 
201 

97 
293 
249 

385 
360 
168 
168 

384 
247 
128 
146 
H5 
133 
145 
161 

77 
84 
96 
362 
365 
365 
181 

97 
101 

99 
100 

86 
167 
167 
201 
229 



410 INDEX. 




PAGE | 




I'AGE 


Butcher's meat, composition of . 108 


Cheshire cheese . . . . 


126 


" Butt," a rounded hide . . 155 


Chetah, or hunting leopard 


230 


Butter, artificial . . . . 123 


Chinchilla .... 


294 


— consumption of . .118 


Civet cats . ... 


232 


— foreign supplies . . .118 


Classification of Animal Products 




— fluid .... 124 


Collection . 


xiv 


— our foreign imports . .125 


— of mammals . . . 


1 




Comb manufacture . 


139 


Cachalot, or sperm-whale 381, 389 


Couguar ... . . 


225 


Camel and its products . . 69 


Cowhair 


175 


— flesh 74 


— imports of . . . . 


133 


— hair . 73. 75 


" Crop," a full hide 


155 


Canadian porcupine . . . 292 


Cross fox . . . 246, 


247 


Caravans of camels . . -73 






Carcase, mode of cutting up by 


Dairy products . . . . 


Il6 


butchers . . . . no 


Deer hair, description of . 


185 


Caribou . . . . .196 


— horn, stages of growth 


179 


Carnivorous mammals . . . 222 


— sinews, uses of . 188, 


196 


Carpet manufacture . . -49 


— skins . . . . 


183 


Cased skins 215 


— — prices of . . 


214 


— wolfskins . . . 244 


— tribe . 


177 


Cashmere shawls . . . . 54 


Devon cattle . . . . 


88 


Castoreum .... 296 


Dogs, economic products of 


241 


Cat skins ... . . 218 


— numbers in various coun- 




— tribe .... 223 


tries . . . . 


240 


Cats, wild and common . . 230 


— skin gloves 


59 


Cattle as food producers . • 77 


— sledges . . . . 


238 


— boiling down in Australia 174 


- — tribe . . . . 


236 


— British breeds of . . 88 


Dolphin 


393 


— Continental breeds of . 90 


Draught oxen . 


86 


— in the British Colonies 80 


Dray and waggon horses . . 


307 


— statistics of in various 


Dried meat . . . . 


114 


countries . • • 79 


Dromedary 


70 


— value of in the United 


' 'Dubbers," hide bottles . 


124 


Kingdom . . . xix 


Dugong 


374 


€avy 293 


— flesh . 


376 


Charqui, or jerked beef . 69, 114 


— oil 


377 


Cheddar cheese . . . . 126 


— skins . 


379 


** Cheeks and faces, " definition of 155 


Dunlop cheese . . . . 


126 


Cheese, foreign imports . .129 


j Dutch butter . . . . 


122 


— production in various 


— cheese . . . . 


126 


countries . . . 130 






— varieties of . .126 


' Edentata . 


291 



INDEX. 



411 



Eland 

Elephant, Asiatic . 
Elephants, extinct 
Elephants . 

— flesh 

— skin . 
Elk . 

— horns 
Ermine or stoat 

— prices of . 
Esquimaux dogs 
"Estancia," a cattle farm 



• 199 

• 337 

• 342 

• 328 

;8, 347 

• 346 

• 177 
. 182 

• 258 
. 214 
. 238 
. 114 



Finner whale .... 387 
Fisher . . . . . 214, 259 
Fitch, or polecat . . 217, 257 
Fleeces, average weight of .11 

Fleshings 171 

Food products, value of the 

imports . . . . xvi 

— supplies, our foreign . 108 
Forester, a large kangaroo 

401, 404-5 
Fossil elephants . . 328, 342 

— ivory . . . . 344 
Foxes, varieties of . 245 
Fox skins . . . . . 217 

— — imports of by the 
Hudson's Bay Company . 247 

— — prices of . . . 214 

— — value of . . . 245 
French bristles . . . . 364 
Fur seal . . . ... 212 

— — of commerce . . 273 

— — prices of . . . 214 

— — varieties of . .277 
Furs, the four noble . . . 209 

— and skins, exported from 

the United States . 216 

— and the fur trade . . 206 

— relative prices of . 214, 217 

— statistics of . 21 6, 218, 

220, 221 



PAGE 

Gamba . . ... 399 
Gambier and Cutch . . .159 
"Gargetan," what . . . 369 
Gaur head . . . -97 

Genet or Spanish cat . . . 234 
Ghee or Indian butter . .124 
Giraffe . . . . . 204 
Gloucester cheese . . .126 
Glove manufacture . . . 58 

Glue, statistics of production . 170 

— pieces. . . . . 171 

Glycerine from lard . . . 362 
Gnu ...... 203 

Goat, commercial products of . 56 

— skins .... 218 

— — extensive imports 

of . . . . 61 
Goats, numbers in various coun- 
tries . . . -5^ 

— tribe 50 

— value of in Ireland . . xix 

— wool . . . . . 51 
Goldbeaters' skin . . .167 
Goose skins . . . . . 218 

Grampus 393 

"Graye," old English name for 

a badger 210 

Greenland whale . . . 386 
Gris or petit gris . . . . 210 
Guanaco . . . . .68 
Guinea pig . .... 293 

Gut and bladder .. . .166 

HAEMOGLOBIN . . . . 1 69 

Hair, human . . . . I 

Hamster 298 

J Hare kangaroo . . .401, 402 

Hares 304 

Head-matter, or spermaceti . 390 
Hedgehog .... 290 

Herbivorous marine mammals . 373 
Hereford oxen . . . . 88 
Hides, average weight of . .154 



412 



INDEX. 





PAGE 






PAGE 


Hides and skins exported from 




Hungarian cattle 




91 


India . . . . 


158 








— imports of 


133 


Indian ivory 


. . 


340 


— value of the annual sup- 




— — ware 


340, 


346 


plies . . . . 


153 


Irish butter . 




I20 


— varieties of 


152 


Isabella bear 




254 


Hippopotamus flesh . . . 


370 


Ivory, African 




332 


— hide .... 


371 


— British imports 




342 


— teeth 


371 


— sources of supply 




335 


Hog-fish, a name for the porpoise 393 


— statistics of imports . 




342 


Hogs, wild of Brazil . 


366 


— trade in . 




34i 


Hogskins ..... 


362 








Hog trade of America 


352 


Jaguar 




227 


Horn books 


136 


Jersey cattle 




88 


— buttons .... 


143 


Jevraschka . 


. 


299 


— comb manufacture . . 


139 


Jimmel or burden camel 




70 


— definition of . 


134 








— lanterns . . . . 


135 


Kangaroo flesh . 


. 


403 


— manufacturing applica- 




— leather . 




405 


tions of 


138 


Kangaroos, various species 


of . 


400 


— - pressers and horn-workers 


135 


Kaross or skin cloak 




202 


Horns and hoofs . . . . 


133 


Kidderminster carpet 




5o 


— from India 


136 


Kid skins 




61 


Horses, breeds of ... 


307 


Kips .... 




156 


— demands of for cavalry 




Kitt fox 


246, 


247 


and war purposes . 312, 


317 


Koalo, or native bear 




407 


— exported from Australia . 


3i6 


" Koork," a kind of goat's 


wool 


55 


— — Great Britain . . 


312 








— — from Russia 


313 


Lam an tin 




380 


— in various countries . . 


310 


Lapland wire 




196 


— value of in the United 




Larch bark 




159 


Kingdom 


xix 


Lard . . . 35: 


S 354, 


360 


Horse hair .... 


3i3 


— oil . 


361 


362 


— — cloth .... 


321 


— our imports of 


349 


361 


— — gloves 


322 


Leaf lard . 




361 


— — imports of . . 


323 


Leather bottles 


. 


t>3 


— — manufacture 


320 


— manufacture . 




158 


— hides, statistics of . . 


318 


— miscellaneous applications 




— tails .... 


323 


of . 




163 


Horses, value of those exported . 


xviii 


Leopard - 




227 


Hudson's Bay Company's furs, 




Limerick gloves . 




59 


statistics of . . . . 


216 


Lions 




223 


Hump-backed whale. 


388 


— flesh eaten . 




225 



INDEX. 



4i3 



PAGE 

Live stock in the United King- 
dom xix 

Llama tribe 65 

Lynxes .... 214, 231 



Mammals, presumed number of 
Mammoth . . . . . 

— elephants 

— extinct . . . . 
Manatee . . . -378, 
Manatu's skin, walking-sticks 

of 

Manufactures, Animal, value of 

exports . . . . . 
Margay . 

Marmots . . . . 

Marsupials and their uses . 
Marten . . ... 

— skins, statistics of imports 
Meat, consumption in various 

countries 

— supply from cattle . . 
Mehari, or saddle camel . 
Merinoes ... . . 



Milk, consumption in the Ui 
Kingdom 

— various kinds 
Mimosa bark 

Mink .... 
Monkeys .... 
Moose or elk 

Mountain goat of America 
Mules and asses 

— — in various countr: 
Mungo or shoddy 

Musk deer 

— - imports of 

— ox . 
Musk rat 

Musquash . . . . 
Mutton, range of prices 
Myrobalans 
Mysore ox . 



lited 



214 



58, 



328 
344 
344 
379 

380 

xviil 
229 
29S 

397 
214 

257 

112 

106 

7o 

19 

117 
116 

159 
258 

288 
188 
214 

323 
326 

47 
197 
198 
106 
296 
296 
6 
159 





PAGE 


Nar, a kind of camel . 


. . 69 


Narwhal, or sea unicorn . 


• 391 


Natal, ivory from 


. . 336 


Neat cattle . . 


. 78 


Neat's foot oil 


. . 150 


Newfoundland seal fishery, 


value 


of ... 


. 265 


Northern fur seals 


• • 279 


Nutria skins 


. 300 


Oak bark . 


. • 159 


Ocelot . 


. 229 


Offal of cattle, uses of . 


. . 165 


Opossums. 


• 397 


Otters 


214, 218 


— land 


. 261 


— sea 


. . 262 



— skins, imports by the 

Hudson's Bay Company 261 
Oxen, value of those in North 

America . . . .82 
Ox-hide, uses of . . . . 81 

Paca 293 

Pangolins, or scaly ant-eaters . 292 

Panther . . . 214, 226 

— American . . . 227 
Parchment and vellum . . . 160 
Parmesan cheese . . . .128 
Paslium, or shawl wool . . 55 
Peccaries of America . . . 366 

Pepsine *3 2 

Perfumes, animal . . . . xv 
Picker waste . . . .172 

Pigments and dyes, Animal . . iii 

Pigs in the United Kingdom . vii 

— exported from Russia . . 359 

— of Russia . . . . 358 

— our imports of . . . 349 

— products of, imported . . 349 

— skins 362 

— trade of Russia . . 358 

— various breeds of. . 349, 350 



4H 


INDEX. 




PAGE 


PAGE 


Pine marten . 


259 


Sables 261 


Polar bear . . . . . . 


250 


Saladero, a slaughter-house . 1 14 


— hare . 


304 


Salami, or pork sausages . . 360 


Polecat . . . 218, 


256 


Scrivelloes . . . 335, 346 


Porcupine, or spiny ant-eater 


291 


Sea elephant .... 284 


Pork, large consumption of, in 




— lions 277 


France 


359 


— otters 262 


— our imports of . . . 


349 


Seal blubber, yield of oil . . 269 


— shipments from America . 


352 


— oil and seal skins, statistics 


Porpoise, black and white . 


393 


of 272 


— flesh . . -394 


396 


Seals and the seal fishery . . 263 


— leather . . . . 


394 


— flesh . . . .270 


— oil 


393 


" Serons," what . . . . 81 


Poultry, value of, in Ireland . . 


• 

XIX 


Sheep, British breeds of . 9 


Puma, or Couguar 


225 


— foreign breeds of ..17 


Purree, or Indian yellow . . 


102 


— number in the United 


P. Y. C, definition of 


149 


Kingdom in 1875 . xix 
— — in 1874 . . 5, 12 


Quagga, flesh of . . . . 


326 


— — in Great Britain in 

1876 ... 6 


Rabbits 


21S 


— — in various countries . 6 


— and their uses . . . 


300 


— — in the British Colonies 12 


— their increase in Australia 


303 


— products of. . . . 4 


Racoon . . . .214 


247 


— skins . . . 44> 218 


Rag wool . . • 


47 


— value of in the United 


" Range," definition of 


155 


Kingdom . . .xix 


Rat, kangaroo . . . . 


401 


Shoddy manufacture . . . 47 


Rats 


29S 


Shorthorns . . . .88 


Red fox 


246 


Siffleur, a marmot . 214, 299 


Reindeer tongues 


194 


Silver fox . . . 245, 247 


— uses of . . . . 


191 


Skin bottles 62 


Rennet . 


130 


Skutch 172 


Rheebok 


201 


Slaughter-houses, vast, in America 355 


Rhinoceros hide 


367 


Soap 151 


— horn, carved . . . 


368 


Souslik 299 


— — applications of 


369 


South African ivory . . 336, 


— species of 


366 


Southern fur seals . . . 282- 


Right, or Greenland whale 




— whale . . . . 388 


33i 


, 3S7 


Sperm whale .... 389 


Russian supply of bristles . . 


365 


Spermaceti . . . 383, 389 


— — of hides . 


154 


Springbok 201 


— — of tallow . . . 


148 


Squirrel 214 


— bristles . 


363 


; Squirrels and their uses . . 305 



INDEX. 



4i5 



Statistics of imports of animal 

products . . xvi 

— — exports of do. . . xviii 

— — bristles . . 362, 365 

— — buffaloes . . 100-106 

— — butter do. . 118, 125 

— — camels . . -73 

— - — cattle in various coun- 

tries . . 79, 

— — cheese . . . 

— — dogs 

— — furs . 216, 220, 221, 



158 

129 

240 

247, 



261, 294 

goats in various coun- 
tries . . . 56 

hides . , . 153, 158 

horse hair . 319,323 

horses in various coun- 
tries . . . . 310 

ivory . 335,336,337, 
340, 342 

lard. . . . 361 

live stock in theUnited 
Kingdom . . xix 

meat consumption 

milk do. 

mules and asses . 

musk imported. 

pork and bacon 349, 352, 
353, 358 



107 
117 

326 
iq8 



rabbits . 

seals . . . 

sheep in the British 
colonies 

sheep in various coun- 
tries . . . . 

tallow 

woollen manufactures 
exported . . . 

wool imports into the 
United Kingdom . 

wool produce of the 
world . 



272 



6 
148 

24 



PAGE 

Statistics of swine in various coun- 
tries . . .365 



— — spermaceti . 

— — whale fishery 

— — whalebone . 
Suint, or yolk in wool 
Sumach 

Susel . . 

Swedish gloves 
Swine, products of . 

— statistics of, in 

countries 

— value of in the 

Kingdom 

— varieties of 
Swiss cheese. 



. . 390 

• 382,383 

• • 387 
. 42 

• • 159 

. 299 
. . 196 

• 349 
various 

• 365 
United 

. xix 

• 349-351 
. . 128 



Tallow, imports of . 

— from cattle boiled down 

in Australia 

— our foreign imports of 

— trade in . 

Tanning materials, value of the 
imports . . . . : 

— substances 

Tapestry carpets . . . . 
Tapir ..... 
Tatoo 



Teeth of elephants 



5°, 334, 



133 

150 
148: 

147 



159 

5° 

366 
291 
336 



— of wild animals, applica- 
tions of . . . . 244 
Textile manufactures, substances 

used in . . . . xiv 

Thibet bear . . . .254 

Tiger ...... 226 

Town tallow . . . .149 

Traction elephants . . . 337 
Tripe dressers . . . .166 

Tush a, dark goats' wool . . 55 

Tusks, large elephants' . • 334 

Vair, a squirrel . . . . 209 
Valonia . . . . .159 



4i6 


INDEX. 






TAGE 




PAGE 


Vellum, uses of . 


. . I6O 


Wool, foreign imports . . . 


24 


Vicuna .... 


. 69 


— imports of into the United 




Virginian opossum 


• • 399 


Kingdom 


8 






— Merino . . . . 


7 


Wallabies 


401, 402 


— produce of the world 


8 


Wallaroos . 


. . 406 


— producing animals . . 


4 


Walrus, or sea-horse . 


. 284 


— washing . 


38 


Waste substances, application of xv 


Woollen manufacture, sub-divi- 




Weasels . . . 


218,^258 


sions of 


46 


Whalebone . . 382, 


383/385 


Woollen manufactures of Great 




— applications of 


388, 389 


Britain . 


22 


Whale fishing, British . 


. . 382 


Woollens, value of the exports . 


24 


— flesh 


• 384 


Wombat . 


397 


— oil . . . 382, 


383, 384 


Worsted manufacture . . . 


49 


— white, or porpoise . 


• 393 






Whales, numbers killed 
Wild animals, prices of live 
— beasts, destruction by 
Wolverine or glutton. 
Wolves, devastations by 


. . 381 
. 223 
. . 226 
214, 256 
. . 242 


Yak, or grunting ox . 

— hair and tails . . . 
Y. C, definition of . 
Yungan . ... 


103 
106 

149 
376 


Wool, characteristics of . 


• 13 






— chemical composition 


of. 17 


Zebra, flesh of. 


326 


— classifications of . 


. • 36 


Zizil ...... 


299 



THE END. 



_ , , _ BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. 

AUG -1 m 



ffliiljiTMhtTtrtiiwtiilmliiliL- 

"HHI 













LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 470 071 2j 



